adrift
If something's adrift, it's floating, not tied down or anchored. A raft that's adrift on a river will float downstream.
If a ship goes adrift, it meanders off course, simply traveling with the water rather than on a charted course. Likewise, if you feel your life has gone figuratively adrift, you may have lost track of your plans and feel like you're wandering without a purpose. The word adrift comes from the sense of drift that means "a slow movement from one place to another," from an Old Norse root word.
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afloat on the surface of a body of water“after the storm the boats were adrift”
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Synonyms:
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afloat
borne on the water; floating
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afloat
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aimlessly drifting
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synonyms:
afloat, aimless, directionless, planless, rudderless, undirected
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purposeless
not evidencing any purpose or goal
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purposeless
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floating freely; not anchored
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off course, wandering aimlessly“there was a search for beauty that had somehow gone adrift”
Vocabulary lists containing adrift
Twelve-year-old Summer and her Uncle Ob must overcome their grief and find their place in the world again following the unexpected death of Aunt May. Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part One, Part Two
Twelve-year-old Skiff attempts to catch a valuable bluefin tuna in order to support his struggling family.
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