drift

CEFRC1

/dɹɪft/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To move slowly without a clear direction.

  2. 02

    noun

    A pile of snow, sand, or leaves formed by wind.

Examples

  • Many people drift through life without a purpose.

  • Waves of joy drift through my opened heart.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Movement; that which moves or is moved.

  2. Anything driven at random.

  3. A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., especially by wind or water.

More examples

In context

  • A bad man, being under the drift of any passion, will follow the impulse of it till something interpose.

  • a drift of snow, of ice, of sand, of plants, etc.

  • It is there seen that at a distance from the valleys of streams, the old glacial drift usually comes to the surface, and often rises into considerable eminences.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The continuous blank of sand across the desert created dunes.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

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”).