roam

verb

ˈrōm How to pronounce roam (audio)
roamed; roaming; roams
Synonyms of roam

intransitive verb

1
: to go from place to place without purpose or direction : wander
roamed about, enjoying the scenery
2
: to travel purposefully unhindered through a wide area
cattle roaming in search of water
3
: to use a cellular phone outside one's local calling area
roaming charges

transitive verb

: to range or wander over
spent the day roaming the hills
roam noun
roamer noun

Synonyms of roam

Relevance
See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus
Choose the Right Synonym for roam

wander, roam, ramble, rove, traipse, meander mean to go about from place to place usually without a plan or definite purpose.

wander implies an absence of or an indifference to a fixed course.

fond of wandering about the square just watching the people

roam suggests wandering about freely and often far afield.

liked to roam through the woods

ramble stresses carelessness and indifference to one's course or objective.

the speaker rambled on without ever coming to the point

rove suggests vigorous and sometimes purposeful roaming.

armed brigands roved over the countryside

traipse implies a course that is erratic but may sometimes be purposeful.

traipsed all over town looking for the right dress

meander implies a winding or intricate course suggestive of aimless or listless wandering.

the river meanders for miles through rich farmland

Examples of roam in a Sentence

The cattle roamed in search of water. Goats roam free on the mountain. He roamed about in search of work. The chickens are able to roam around freely in the farmyard. We roamed around town for a while before dinner. She liked to roam through the woods.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Todd Spitzer has started charging parents with child endangerment for allowing their kids to roam the streets on potentially lethal machines. — Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2026 And while suburban or rural locales might offer the luxury of space—a sprawling front yard for your 12-foot skeletons to roam free, for instance—in New York City, the limitations of scale just mean people have to get creative. — Anna Grace Lee, Vogue, 23 Oct. 2026 Universal announced that Nikki, the character Navarrette plays in Obsession was going to roam all of Horror Nights, scaring people and taking photos like Art the Clown, Dracula, and the Weeknd in years past. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 22 Oct. 2026 The experiment goes wrong, the Farmer disappears and a large, hairy creature begins roaming the woods around Mossingham. — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for roam

Word History

Etymology

Middle English romen

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of roam was in the 14th century

Phrases Containing roam

Rhymes for roam

See All Rhymes for roam

Browse Nearby Words

roadworthy
roam
Roamaina
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Roam.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/roam. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Kids Definition

roam

verb
ˈrōm How to pronounce roam (audio)
1
: to go or go over from place to place without a plan
roam the hills
cattle roaming in search of water
2
: to use a cell phone outside one's local calling area
roamer noun
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of milieu

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All