drift
drift is a 5-letter English word with 45 senses as noun, intransitive verb, transitive verb, adjective, and verb in the JumbleFix dictionary. One common meaning is: A driving; a violent movement. Face value is 9 in Scrabble and 9 in Words With Friends. Use the entries below when you need a playable sense, a nearby word, or another arrangement of the same letters.
Definitions
- noun. A driving; a violent movement.
- noun. The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.
- noun. Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.
- noun. The tendency of an act, argument, course of conduct, or the like; object aimed at or intended; intention; hence, also, import or meaning of a sentence or discourse; aim.
- noun. That which is driven, forced, or urged along
- noun. Anything driven at random.
- noun. A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., esp. by wind or water; as, a drift of snow, of ice, of sand, and the like.
- noun. A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds.
- noun. The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.
- noun. A collection of loose earth and rocks, or boulders, which have been distributed over large portions of the earth's surface, especially in latitudes north of forty degrees, by the agency of ice.
- noun. In South Africa, a ford in a river.
- noun. A slightly tapered tool of steel for enlarging or shaping a hole in metal, by being forced or driven into or through it; a broach.
- noun. A tool used in driving down compactly the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework.
- noun. A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to oblong projectiles.
- noun. A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an adit or tunnel.
- noun. The distance through which a current flows in a given time.
- noun. The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.
- noun. The distance to which a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes.
- noun. The place in a deep-waisted vessel where the sheer is raised and the rail is cut off, and usually terminated with a scroll, or driftpiece.
- noun. The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.
- noun. The difference between the size of a bolt and the hole into which it is driven, or between the circumference of a hoop and that of the mast on which it is to be driven.
- intransitive verb. To float or be driven along by, or as by, a current of water or air; as, the ship drifted astern; a raft drifted ashore; the balloon drifts slowly east.
- intransitive verb. To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven into heaps; as, snow or sand drifts.
- intransitive verb. to make a drift; to examine a vein or ledge for the purpose of ascertaining the presence of metals or ores; to follow a vein; to prospect.
- transitive verb. To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body.
- transitive verb. To drive into heaps; as, a current of wind drifts snow or sand.
- transitive verb. To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.
- adjective. That causes drifting or that is drifted; movable by wind or currents; as, drift currents; drift ice; drift mud.
- noun. a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine
"they dug a drift parallel with the vein"
- noun. the pervading meaning or tenor
"caught the general drift of the conversation"
- noun. a general tendency to change (as of opinion)
"not openly liberal but that is the trend of the book"
"a broad movement of the electorate to the right"
- noun. a large mass of material that is heaped up by the wind or by water currents
- noun. a force that moves something along
- noun. the gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane)
- noun. a process of linguistic change over a period of time
- verb. be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current
"snow drifting several feet high"
"sand drifting like snow"
- verb. be subject to fluctuation
"The stock market drifted upward"
- verb. drive slowly and far afield for grazing
"drift the cattle herds westwards"
- verb. cause to be carried by a current
"drift the boats downstream"
- verb. move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
"The gypsies roamed the woods"
"roving vagabonds"
- verb. be in motion due to some air or water current
"The leaves were blowing in the wind"
"the boat drifted on the lake"
- verb. move in an unhurried fashion
"The unknown young man drifted among the invited guests"
- verb. wander from a direct course or at random
"The child strayed from the path and her parents lost sight of her"
"don't drift from the set course"
- verb. live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely
"My son drifted around for years in California before going to law school"
- verb. vary or move from a fixed point or course
"stock prices are drifting higher"
Synonyms
gallery, heading, purport, movement, trend, impetus, impulsion, cast, ramble, range, roam, roll, rove, stray, swan, tramp, vagabond, wander, blow, float, err, freewheel
Common word forms
drifts, drifted, drifter, drifting, driftless
Words from these letters
If you are holding these tiles, the unscrambler for DRIFT lists every valid word you can make from the same letters, including shorter plays.