Drift Meaning
/dɹɪft/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounMovement; that which moves or is moved.
nounMovement; that which moves or is moved., Anything driven at random.
Sentence Examples
Many people drift through life without a purpose.
Waves of joy drift through my opened heart.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The continuous ____ of sand across the desert created dunes.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Many people ____ through life without a purpose.
Word Origin & History
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 *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Equivalent to drive + -t; cognate with North Frisian drift (“drift”), Saterland Frisian Drift (“current, flow, stream, drift”), Dutch drift (“drift, passion, urge”), German Drift (“drift”) and Trift (“drove, pasture”), Danish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Swedish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Icelandic drift (“drift, snow-drift”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Some log perhaps upon the waters swam, a useless drift."
— 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):
"Drifts of rising dust involve the sky."
— 1725, Homer, “Book VIII”, in [William Broome], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume II, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:
"We […] got the brig a good bed in the rushing drift [of ice]."
— 1855, Elisha Kent Kane, Arctic explorations: The second Grinnell expedition in search of Sir John Franklin:
"Many of these ground-layer plants were placed in naturalistic drifts to make it appear as if they were sowing themselves."
— 2012, David L. Culp, The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage, Timber Press, page 168:
""During the winter, we get really bad snow conditions. We can go to eight inches of snow above the railhead, then the trains are stopped. It's usually more like four inches, but you get big drifts up towards Rannoch."
— 2023 November 29, Paul Clifton, “West is best in the Highlands”, in RAIL, number 997, page 39:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The continuous ____ of sand across the desert created dunes.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Many people ____ through life without a purpose.