as in nomads
a person who roams about without a fixed route or destination
the drifter just packed up and moved on to the next dead-end job
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of drifters
Detectives learned Lugo was the leader of a group made up of drifters and petty thieves who hung out at the Sun Gym.
—
Troy Roberts, CBS News, 8 Apr. 2026
The men and women under his employ were a rag-tag gang of dreamers and drifters, brought together by a love for adventure, a disdain for the society that had thrown their friends away in Vietnam, and a desire to spread the gospel of ganja.
—Jack Crosbie, Rolling Stone, 17 Mar. 2026
The scene inspired future comedy gags showing drifters and tramps losing their pants to dogs chasing them.
—Mike Barnes, HollywoodReporter, 29 Jan. 2026
Meeting drifters and friendly folk along the way, Alvin is doggedly determined to make amends while facing ailments of his own.
—James Mercadante, Entertainment Weekly, 20 Jan. 2026
In any case, these are Beckett’s drifters, no doubt, right down to the aching feet and bad breath.
—Greg Evans, Deadline, 28 Sep. 2025
Most of them were migrant workers, young drifters, and then some co-renters.
—Jack Hargreaves, The Dial, 9 Sep. 2025
Entrants included everything from historic race cars to JDM drifters, time attack competition cars and off-roaders.
—Trinity Francis, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
Our study, published in the journal Nature in November 2022, describes a new method to infer tropical cyclone intensity from ocean currents, which are already being measured by an army of drifters.
—Shang-Ping Xie, The Conversation, 29 Nov. 2022
Troy Roberts, CBS News, 8 Apr. 2026
The men and women under his employ were a rag-tag gang of dreamers and drifters, brought together by a love for adventure, a disdain for the society that had thrown their friends away in Vietnam, and a desire to spread the gospel of ganja.
—Jack Crosbie, Rolling Stone, 17 Mar. 2026
The scene inspired future comedy gags showing drifters and tramps losing their pants to dogs chasing them.
—Mike Barnes, HollywoodReporter, 29 Jan. 2026
Meeting drifters and friendly folk along the way, Alvin is doggedly determined to make amends while facing ailments of his own.
—James Mercadante, Entertainment Weekly, 20 Jan. 2026
In any case, these are Beckett’s drifters, no doubt, right down to the aching feet and bad breath.
—Greg Evans, Deadline, 28 Sep. 2025
Most of them were migrant workers, young drifters, and then some co-renters.
—Jack Hargreaves, The Dial, 9 Sep. 2025
Entrants included everything from historic race cars to JDM drifters, time attack competition cars and off-roaders.
—Trinity Francis, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
Our study, published in the journal Nature in November 2022, describes a new method to infer tropical cyclone intensity from ocean currents, which are already being measured by an army of drifters.
—Shang-Ping Xie, The Conversation, 29 Nov. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for drifters
Noun
-
Under the Zagros Mountains outside Shiraz, a family of Iranian nomads and their reticent sons investigate the disappearance of twelve sheep while navigating their flock through the modern city of poets in this dreamy documentary.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
16 Apr. 2026
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Increasingly erratic precipitation since the 1980s has forced many nomads to come in from the desert.—
Kevin West,
Travel + Leisure,
10 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
On stage, Josh and Melissa, our wanderers from the land of reality, are subsumed into an actual musical rather than a vaguely Truman Show-style refraction.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
20 Apr. 2026
-
Voice like a warm porchlight left on for wanderers who kissed goodbye too soon or stayed too long.—
Alex Suskind,
Pitchfork,
18 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
To participate, travelers must be 21 or older, the legal age to purchase alcohol in the United States.—
Hali Smith,
Idaho Statesman,
29 Apr. 2026
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Travel experts suggest travelers should perform a cost-benefit analysis to see if the price of lounge access is worth the perks.—
Zach Wichter,
USA Today,
29 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Drifters.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/drifters. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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