word | errant |
---|---|
definition | (1) Wandering or moving about aimlessly. (2) Straying outside proper bounds, or away from an accepted pattern or standard. |
eg_sentence | Modern-day cowboys have been known to use helicopters to spot errant calves. |
explanation | Errant means both “wandering” and “mistaken.” A knight-errant was a wandering knight who went about slaying dragons or rescuing damsels in distress (at least when he was on good behavior). Arrant is a old-fashioned spelling of errant; an arrant knave (the phrase comes from Shakespeare) is an extremely untrustworthy individual. An errant sock might be one that's gotten lost; an errant politician might be one who's been caught cheating; and an errant cloud might be one that floats by all alone in a deep-blue sky on a summer day |
IPA | ˈɛrənt |
Tags: mwvb::unit:6, mwvb::unit:6:word, mwvb::word, mwvb::word-cloze, mwvb::word-reverse, obsidian_to_anki
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