rambling

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹæm.blɪŋ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æmblɪŋ

Verb

rambling

1. present participle and gerund of ramble

Adjective

rambling

1. Of a speech: meandering, long and digressing.
2. Confused and irregular; awkward.
   • 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House:

     Except that the house had an immensely large rambling loft at top, I made no other discoveries.

3. Winding irregularly in various directions.
   • 1949 November and December, K. Longbottom, “By Goods Train to Gweedore”, in Railway Magazine, page 353:

     A long somewhat rambling branch, avoiding the places most likely to supply it with traffic, but not the centres of scenic interest, began at Letterkenny and reached the sea at Burtonport.

Synonyms

• (digressing): desultory

Translations

long and digressing of a speech

• German: langatmig (de), weitschweifend, abschweifend (de), palavernd (de)
• Maori: kāwekaweka, autaki, hikimoke, autaki
• Spanish: que se va por tangentes, inconexo (es), errante (es)

Noun

rambling (plural ramblings)

1. A long meandering talk with no specific topic or direction.
   • 1941, Harold Sinclair, Years of Illusion, page 145:

     […] listening with great interest to Martha's ramblings about "The War."

2. A gentle hike.

Derived terms

• rambling rose

Translations

meandering talk

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 漫无边际的讲话

• Dutch: gebazel (nl), onsamenhangend gepraat
• Finnish: jaaritus (fi), jaarittelu (fi)
• German: Palaver (de) n, Gerede (de) n, Geschwafel (de) n, Sermon (de) m, Weitschweifigkeit f
• Greek: ασυνάρτητος λόγος m (asynártitos lógos)
• Irish: rámhaille f
• Italian: sproloquio (it) m
• Polish: rozwlekły (pl) m
• Spanish: divagación (es) f, perorata (es) f, monserga (es) f
• Swedish: babbel (sv) n

gentle hiking

• Bulgarian: разходка (bg) f (razhodka)
• Dutch: wandeltocht (nl), omzwerving (nl)
• Finnish: kuljeskelu (fi), samoilu (fi)
• German: Wandern (de), Herumziehen, Spaziergang (de), Spazierengehen
• Greek: περίπατος (el) m (perípatos)
• Irish: fánaíocht f

Anagrams

• marbling