Drift Definition

drĭft
drifted, drifting, drifts
verb
drifted, drifting, drifts
To cause to drift.
Webster's New World
To be carried along by circumstances; go along aimlessly.
Webster's New World
To cover with drifts.
Webster's New World
To proceed or move unhurriedly or aimlessly.
Drifting among the party guests; a day laborer, drifting from town to town.
American Heritage
To live or behave without a clear purpose or goal.
Drifted through his college years unable to decide on a career.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
noun
drifts
A being driven or carried along, as by a current of air or water or by circumstances.
Webster's New World
A bank or pile, as of sand or snow, heaped up by currents of air or water.
American Heritage
The course on which something is directed or driven.
Webster's New World
The deviation of a ship, airplane, rocket, etc. from its path, caused by side currents or winds.
Webster's New World
A slow ocean current.
Webster's New World
Antonyms:
idiom
drift apart
  • to gradually lose interest in or affection for each other
Webster's New World
drift off
  • to fall asleep
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Drift

Noun

Singular:
drift
Plural:
drifts

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Drift

Origin of Drift

  • From Middle English drift, dryft (“act of driving, drove, shower of rain or snow, impulse”), from Old English *drift (“drift”), from Proto-Germanic *driftiz (“drift”), from Proto-Indo-European *dhreibh- (“to drive, push”). Cognate with North Frisian drift (“drift”), Dutch drift (“drift, passion, urge”), German Drift (“drift”) and Trift (“drove, pasture”), Swedish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Icelandic drift (“drift, snow-drift”). Related to drive.

    From Wiktionary

  • From Middle English drove, herd, act of driving dhreibh- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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