as in to roam
to move about from place to place aimlessly
he gads about town every Saturday, flirting and gossiping with various shopkeepers and locals
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in nomad
a person who roams about without a fixed route or destination
she was a thoughtful gadabout, always picking up souvenirs for her friends from wherever her travels took her
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in peripatetic
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of gad (about)
Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 16 Mar. 2023
For those of us who won’t be joining in the sybaritic excursion, Matches is bringing the Riviera gadabout vibes to all with capsule collections of women’s, men’s and home products curated by Sciò and Rabensteiner.
—Todd Plummer, Robb Report, 5 May 2022
But a linesman stepped in and prevented the gadabout angler from bringing in the catch.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Nov. 2021
Hardly the schedule of a social gadabout.
—New York Times, 5 Aug. 2021
The giggling gadabout who dies penniless.
—Cory Oldweiler, Star Tribune, 11 Dec. 2020
Writer, comedian, and social gadabout Lucas Murphy sits down with friends and contemporaries to solve the New York Times crossword puzzle.
—Savannah Eadens, The Courier-Journal, 20 Apr. 2020
So, a solar charging system fits perfectly with your gadabout persona.
—The Editors, Field & Stream, 10 Apr. 2020
Simon is so reserved that even his live-in girlfriend (an egregiously underused Olivia Thirlby) has given up on him; Trevor is a kooky gadabout who’d be right at home trading druggy celebrity anecdotes with Oliver Putnam.
—Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Noun
The wild career of David Johansen — New York Dolls frontman, punk gadabout, occasional actor, and Buster Poindexter portrayer — will be the focus of an upcoming documentary co-directed by Martin Scorsese.
—Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 16 Mar. 2023
For those of us who won’t be joining in the sybaritic excursion, Matches is bringing the Riviera gadabout vibes to all with capsule collections of women’s, men’s and home products curated by Sciò and Rabensteiner.
—Todd Plummer, Robb Report, 5 May 2022
But a linesman stepped in and prevented the gadabout angler from bringing in the catch.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Nov. 2021
Hardly the schedule of a social gadabout.
—New York Times, 5 Aug. 2021
The giggling gadabout who dies penniless.
—Cory Oldweiler, Star Tribune, 11 Dec. 2020
Writer, comedian, and social gadabout Lucas Murphy sits down with friends and contemporaries to solve the New York Times crossword puzzle.
—Savannah Eadens, The Courier-Journal, 20 Apr. 2020
So, a solar charging system fits perfectly with your gadabout persona.
—The Editors, Field & Stream, 10 Apr. 2020
Simon is so reserved that even his live-in girlfriend (an egregiously underused Olivia Thirlby) has given up on him; Trevor is a kooky gadabout who’d be right at home trading druggy celebrity anecdotes with Oliver Putnam.
—Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gad (about)
Verb
-
Now, on her seventh studio album, Middle of Nowhere, Musgraves is letting the wind take her all the way back home, to a place where there’s no cell service, bulls roam freely, and gorgeous pedal steel guitars are plentiful.—
Maya Georgi,
Rolling Stone,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Escaped inmates roamed the streets of New Orleans under the watch of surveillance cameras.—
Patrick Smith,
NBC news,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Most have a traditional nomad tent pitched up in their private backyard, which, with a wood stove and comfy couch, makes for a cozy lounge area.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
25 Apr. 2026
-
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
Adjective
-
In an untitled work from 1995, a cluster of sturdy wagons sits at the edge of a frozen lake, a site where her family of peripatetic horse traders often camped.—
Ben Davis,
The New York Review of Books,
25 Apr. 2026
-
The Danish Algerian songwriter’s peripatetic new album pulls up at the bustling crossroads of the electroclash comeback and the contemporary Scandinavian school.—
Walden Green,
Pitchfork,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The back parking lot, once a nasty no man’s land where drunken customers wandered off to urinate, has recently been transformed into a performance space that has hosted small gigs including Duane Betts.—
Jimmy Jellinek,
SPIN,
27 Apr. 2026
-
But, as Chen and Shrivastava wandered a Texas restaurant conference, a Dallas heating and air company called Rescue Air found them.—
Allie Garfinkle,
Fortune,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Its content includes live NFL and NBA games as well as original content aimed at travelers.—
Sportico Staff,
Sportico.com,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Why this matters for early planners For travelers who like to plan ahead or avoid peak crowds, the Nelson-Atkins is worth noting now.—
Taylor Haught,
Kansas City Star,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
As a precaution, Smith said, the hospital closed ambulatory clinics and canceled elective procedures and outpatient appointments Wednesday.—
Grace Zokovitch,
Boston Herald,
15 Apr. 2026
-
Researchers examined long-term data from more than 5,000 ambulatory women between the ages of 63 and 99, with an average age of 78, who were enrolled in the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health in Older Women (OPACH) study.—
Helen Carefoot,
Flow Space,
27 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The icy wanderer has now entered the field of view of the sun-facing Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) instrument mounted on the joint ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft (SOHO), offering us a unique way to follow the comet's journey.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
24 Apr. 2026
-
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
Verb
-
The Ferrari Purosangue Handling Speciale follows improvements already made among the competition, such as Aston Martin’s 717 hp DBX S and Bentley’s latest Bentayga Speed—the latter now capable of drifting.—
Viju Mathew,
Robb Report,
29 Apr. 2026
-
In this haunting and visually inventive documentary, a spectral voice drifts through time and memory to trace the Maidan revolution and the roots of resistance in Ukraine.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
29 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Gad (about).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gad%20%28about%29. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
