Nomad Meaning
/ˈnəʊmæd/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA member of a society or class who herd animals from pasture to pasture with no fixed home.
nounSynonym of wanderer: an itinerant person.
Sentence Examples
I'm a nomad for life.
Badi is a Tuareg nomad.
In two nomad camps are ten horses.
CEFR Practice Quiz
As a ____, he moved from place to place without ever settling down.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A ____ travels from one place to another instead of living in one fixed location.
Word Origin & History
From Middle French nomade, from Latin Nomas (“wandering shepherd”), from Ancient Greek νομάς (nomás, “roaming, wandering, esp. to find pasture”), from Ancient Greek νομός (nomós, “pasture”). Compare Numidia.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The life of the people called the Nomads or Grazyers..."
— 1587, Philippe de Mornay, translated by Philip Sidney et al., A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion, viii, p. 113:
"Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal."
— 2013 August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
"Once again Judy was a nomad, moving to yet again another destination."
— 2010, J. Knight, Unloved, →ISBN, page 58:
"I made my exit down I-75, heading south. After a 40-year odyssey as a media nomad, I will be closing the circle in a place where my life had never been better."
— 2014, Dan Lovett, Anybody Seen Dan Lovett?: Memoirs of a media nomad, →ISBN, page 10:
"Poise is the posture of the nomad, moving while always at home."
— 2016, Daniel Coffeen, Reading the Way of Things: Towards a New Technology of Making Sense, →ISBN:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
As a ____, he moved from place to place without ever settling down.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A ____ travels from one place to another instead of living in one fixed location.