errant
errant Lexical Profile
errant Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Straying from the proper course or accepted standards; erring or misbehaving.
"The school principal called a meeting to address the behavior of several errant students."
Moving or straying outside the intended path, boundary, or target.
"An errant golf ball sailed over the fence and landed in the neighbor's garden."
Traveling in search of chivalrous adventure (historically used postpositively, as in knight-errant).
"Medieval romances often celebrated the deeds of a knight-errant roaming the countryside."
Word Nuance & Usage
'Errant' is frequently confused with 'arrant'; while 'errant' means wandering or straying from accepted standards, 'arrant' is an intensifier meaning complete or utter (as in 'arrant nonsense'). In historical contexts such as 'knight-errant', it carries no negative moral judgment and simply means traveling in search of adventure.
• Rhymes for errant
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Old French errant, the present participle of errer ('to wander' or 'to travel'), blending Latin errare ('to stray, wander') and Late Latin iterare ('to journey', from iter, 'journey').