Adrift

English

Adjective

Adrift (comparative more Adrift, superlative most Adrift)

1. Floating at random.

   So on the sea shall be set adrift. --Dryden.

2. (of a seaman) Absent from his watch; temporarily missing or absent without leave.
3. Confused.

Adverb

Adrift (comparative more Adrift, superlative most Adrift)

1. In a drifting condition; at the mercy of wind and waves.

Etymology

Prefix a- (for on) + drift.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ə-drĭft', IPA: /əˈdrɪft/, SAMPA: /@"drIft/

• Audio (US)

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  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɪft

Thesaurus

abashed; aberrant; abroad; afloat; all abroad; all off; all wrong; alternating; amiss; amorphous; askew; astray; at fault; at sea; aweigh; awry; beside the mark; beside the point; beside the question; bewildered; bothered; capricious; cast-off; changeable; changeful; clear; clueless; confused; corrupt; deceptive; defective; delusive; desultory; deviable; deviant; deviational; deviative; discomposed; disconcerted; dismayed; disoriented; distorted; distracted; distraught; disturbed; dizzy; eccentric; embarrassed; errant; erratic; erring; erroneous; extraneous; extrinsic; fallacious; false; fast and loose; faultful; faulty; fickle; fitful; flawed; flickering; flighty; flitting; floating; fluctuating; freakish; free; giddy; guessing; heretical; heterodox; illogical; illusory; immaterial; impertinent; impetuous; impulsive; in a fix; in a maze; in a pickle; in a scrape; in a stew; inadmissible; inapplicable; inapposite; inappropriate; incidental; inconsequent; inconsistent; inconstant; indecisive; infirm; irregular; irrelative; irrelevant; irresolute; irresponsible; loose; lost; mazed; mazy; mercurial; moody; nihil ad rem; nonessential; not at issue; not right; not true; off; off the subject; off the track; out; out-of-the-way; parenthetical; peccant; perturbed; perverse; perverted; put-out; rambling; restless; rickety; roving; scatterbrained; self-contradictory; shaky; shapeless; shifting; shifty; shuffling; spasmodic; spineless; started; straying; turned around; unaccountable; unanchored; unbound; uncertain; uncontrolled; undependable; undisciplined; undone; unessential; unfactual; unfastened; unfixed; unmoored; unorthodox; unpredictable; unproved; unreliable; unrestrained; unsettled; unstable; unstable as water; unstaid; unsteadfast; unsteady; unstuck; untied; untrue; upset; vacillating; vagrant; variable; vicissitudinary; vicissitudinous; volatile; wandering; wanton; wavering; wavery; wavy; wayward; whimsical; wide; wishy-washy; without a clue; wrong

Translations

Adjective

floating at random

French: à la dérive (fr) f. Portuguese: à deriva (pt) m. and f.

Romanian: în derivă (ro) m., f., and n. pl. Spanish: a la deriva (es)

Adverb

in a drifting condition

Portuguese: à deriva (pt) Romanian: în derivă (ro)

Spanish: a la deriva (es)

Related terms

• cast adrift