afield

adverb or adjective

ə-ˈfēld 

1

: to, in, or on the field

was weak at bat but strong afield

2

: away from home : abroad

3

: out of the way : astray

irrelevant remarks that carried us far afield

Synonyms of afield

• wrong
• astray
• awry

Examples of afield in a Sentence

how did we get so far afield from the subject we intended to discuss?

Recent Examples on the Web

Further afield, Sydney in Australia ranked seventh, while Oranjestad in Aruba rounded out the global listing in 10th place. —Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2025

Travelers coming from farther afield can also fly into Long Beach Airport (LGB) or Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), roughly 30 and 60 minutes away, respectively. —Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 15 Nov. 2025

But the intrepid shopper can go further afield to satisfy everyone’s building-and-assembly needs. —Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 15 Nov. 2025

There’s a chapter in the book talking about all this, looking at the range of possibilities and challenges that exist for places close in to the sun, such as Mercury, to the other extreme, far-out places such as Neptune and even further afield. —Lee Billings, Scientific American, 10 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English afelde, going back to Old English on felda, on felde, from on on entry 1 + felda, felde, dative of feld field entry 1

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for afield

• airfield
• annealed
• appealed
• brownfield
• coalfield
• concealed
• congealed
• cornfield
• downfield
• goldfield
• hayfield
• infield

Kids Definition

afield

adverb

ə-ˈfēld 

1

: to, in, or on the field

2

: away from home

3

: out of a regular, planned, or proper course : astray