roam

English

Etymology

From Middle English romen, from Old English *rāmian, from Proto-Germanic *raimōnan (“to wander”), from *raim- (“to move, raise”), from Proto-Indo-European *rī-, *reyw-, *(o)reyǝ- (“to move, lift, flow”). Akin to Old English ārǣman "to arise, stand up, lift up", Old High German rāmēn (“to aim”) ( > archaic German rahmen (“to strive”)), Middle Dutch rammen "to night-wander, copulate", rammelen "to wander about, ramble". More at ramble

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: rōm, IPA: /ɹəʊm/, X-SAMPA: /r@Um/
• (GenAm) enPR: rōm, IPA: /ɹoʊm/, X-SAMPA: /roUm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophones: Rome
• Rhymes: -əʊm

Verb

roam (third-person singular simple present roams, present participle roaming, simple past and past participle roamed)

1. (intransitive) To wander or travel freely and with no specific destination.
2. (intransitive, computing, telecommunications) To use a network or service from different locations or devices.
3. (transitive) To range or wander over.

   Gangs of thugs roamed the streets.

   • Milton

     And now wild beasts came forth the woods to roam.

Synonyms

• (wander freely): err, wander

Translations

wander freely

• Afrikaans: wandel
• Arabic: تجول (ar) (tajáwwala)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 漫游 (cmn) (mànyóu), 漫步 (cmn) (mànbù)

• Dutch: rondwandelen (nl), wandelen (nl), rondlopen (nl), dwalen (nl), ronddwalen (nl), zwerven (nl)
• Esperanto: migri (eo)
• Finnish: vaellella, kuljeskella, harhailla
• French: errer (fr)

• German: wandern (de)
• Hebrew: שוטט (he) (shotét), נדד (he) (nadád)
• Italian: vagare (it)
• Japanese: 歩き回る (ja) (あるきまわる, arukimawaru), うろつく (ja) (urotsuku)
• Maori: takawhaki (mi)
• Portuguese: vagar (pt), vaguear (pt)
• Romanian: hoinări
• Russian: бродить (ru) (brodít')  impf., скитаться (ru) (skitát'sja)  impf., странствовать (ru) (stránstvovat')  impf.
• Spanish: vagar (es)

Anagrams

• Amor
• moar
• mora
• Omar
• Roma

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Portuguese

Verb

roam

1. third-person plural present subjunctive of roer
2. third-person plural imperative of roer