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DRIFT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine
Example:
they dug a drift parallel with the vein
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("drift" is a kind of...):
passageway (a passage between rooms or between buildings)
Domain category:
excavation; mining (the act of extracting ores or coal etc from the earth)
Derivation:
drive (excavate horizontally)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The pervading meaning or tenor
Example:
caught the general drift of the conversation
Synonyms:
drift; purport
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("drift" is a kind of...):
strain; tenor (the general meaning or substance of an utterance)
Derivation:
drive (move into a desired direction of discourse)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A general tendency to change (as of opinion)
Example:
a broad movement of the electorate to the right
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("drift" is a kind of...):
disposition; inclination; tendency (an attitude of mind especially one that favors one alternative over others)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drift"):
evolutionary trend (a general direction of evolutionary change)
gravitation (a figurative movement toward some attraction)
Derivation:
drift (be subject to fluctuation)
drive (move into a desired direction of discourse)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A large mass of material that is heaped up by the wind or by water currents
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Hypernyms ("drift" is a kind of...):
mass (a body of matter without definite shape)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drift"):
drumlin (a mound of glacial drift)
snowdrift (a mass of snow heaped up by the wind)
Derivation:
drift (be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A force that moves something along
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural phenomena
Hypernyms ("drift" is a kind of...):
force ((physics) the influence that produces a change in a physical quantity)
Derivation:
drift (cause to be carried by a current)
drift (be in motion due to some air or water current)
Sense 6
Meaning:
The gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural processes
Hypernyms ("drift" is a kind of...):
action; activity; natural action; natural process (a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings))
Domain category:
ship (a vessel that carries passengers or freight)
aeroplane; airplane; plane (an aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drift"):
leeway ((of a ship or plane) sideways drift)
Derivation:
drift (wander from a direct course or at random)
Sense 7
Meaning:
A process of linguistic change over a period of time
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural processes
Hypernyms ("drift" is a kind of...):
linguistic process (a process involved in human language)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drift"):
melioration (the linguistic process in which over a period of time a word grows more positive in connotation or more elevated in meaning)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they drift ... he / she / it drifts
Past simple: drifted
Past participle: drifted
-ing form: drifting
Sense 1
Meaning:
Be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current
Example:
sand drifting like snow
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "drift" is one way to...):
accumulate; amass; conglomerate; cumulate; gather; pile up (collect or gather)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Derivation:
drift (a large mass of material that is heaped up by the wind or by water currents)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Be subject to fluctuation
Example:
The stock market drifted upward
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "drift" is one way to...):
change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)
Verb group:
drift (vary or move from a fixed point or course)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Derivation:
drift (a general tendency to change (as of opinion))
Sense 3
Meaning:
Drive slowly and far afield for grazing
Example:
drift the cattle herds westwards
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "drift" is one way to...):
crop; graze; pasture (let feed in a field or pasture or meadow)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 4
Meaning:
Cause to be carried by a current
Example:
drift the boats downstream
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "drift" is one way to...):
float (set afloat)
Verb group:
be adrift; blow; drift; float (be in motion due to some air or water current)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Derivation:
drift (a force that moves something along)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
Example:
They rolled from town to town
Synonyms:
cast; drift; ramble; range; roam; roll; rove; stray; swan; tramp; vagabond; wander
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "drift" is one way to...):
go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)
Verb group:
drift; err; stray (wander from a direct course or at random)
wander (go via an indirect route or at no set pace)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "drift"):
maunder (wander aimlessly)
gad; gallivant; jazz around (wander aimlessly in search of pleasure)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP
Derivation:
drifter (a wanderer who has no established residence or visible means of support)
drifting (aimless wandering from place to place)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Be in motion due to some air or water current
Example:
the shipwrecked boat drifted away from the shore
Synonyms:
be adrift; blow; drift; float
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "drift" is one way to...):
go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)
Verb group:
drift (cause to be carried by a current)
float (move lightly, as if suspended)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "drift"):
waft (be driven or carried along, as by the air)
tide (be carried with the tide)
stream (to extend, wave or float outward, as if in the wind)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Derivation:
drift (a force that moves something along)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Move in an unhurried fashion
Example:
The unknown young man drifted among the invited guests
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "drift" is one way to...):
circulate (move around freely from person to person or from place to place)
Verb group:
drift; freewheel (live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Sense 8
Meaning:
Wander from a direct course or at random
Example:
don't drift from the set course
Synonyms:
drift; err; stray
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "drift" is one way to...):
go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)
Verb group:
cast; drift; ramble; range; roam; roll; rove; stray; swan; tramp; vagabond; wander (move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Derivation:
drift (the gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane))
driftage (the deviation (by a vessel or aircraft) from its intended course due to drifting)
drifting (aimless wandering from place to place)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely
Example:
My son drifted around for years in California before going to law school
Synonyms:
drift; freewheel
Classified under:
Verbs of being, having, spatial relations
Hypernyms (to "drift" is one way to...):
exist; live; subsist; survive (support oneself)
Verb group:
drift (move in an unhurried fashion)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Sense 10
Meaning:
Vary or move from a fixed point or course
Example:
stock prices are drifting higher
Classified under:
Verbs of being, having, spatial relations
Hypernyms (to "drift" is one way to...):
vary (be subject to change in accordance with a variable)
Verb group:
drift (be subject to fluctuation)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Context examples:
My marriage had drifted us away from each other.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
In the densest regions, protostars ignite and begin to drift about randomly.
(Dramatic Stellar Fireworks of Star Birth, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Deviation from this ratio indicates that some force is acting on the population (e.g., selection, mutation, migration, genetic drift, non-random mating).
(Hardy-Weinberg Distribution, NCI Thesaurus)
But Hannah, poor woman! could not stride the drifts so well as I: her legs are not quite so long: so I must e'en leave you to your sorrows.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Yet, largely hidden from daily life, the field drifts, waxes and wanes.
(Earth's last magnetic field reversal took far longer than once thought, National Science Foundation)
We seem to be drifting very far from the object of this expedition, Lord John.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was, in fact, a sledge, like that we had seen before, which had drifted towards us in the night on a large fragment of ice.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Nay, we should drift upon the rocks.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
My son, through ignorance of his true position, was drifting into a course of life which accorded with his strength and spirit, but not with the traditions of his house.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
One of the most dangerous classes in the world, said he, is the drifting and friendless woman.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
