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Errant has a split history. It comes from Anglo-French, a language in which two confusingly similar verbs with identical spellings ("errer") coexisted. One errer meant "to err" and comes from the Latin errare, meaning "to wander" or "to err." The second errer meant "to travel," and traces to the Latin iter, meaning "road" or "journey." Both "errer" homographs contributed to the development of "errant," which not surprisingly has to do with both moving about and being mistaken. A "knight-errant" travels around in search of adventures. Cowboys round up "errant calves." An "errant child" is one who misbehaves. (You might also see "arrant" occasionally - it's a word that originated as an alteration of "errant" and that usually means "extreme" or "shameless.")
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Examples of errant in a Sentence
Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024
In the sixth, Green was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and advanced to second on an errant pick-off throw.
—Michael Huntley, Orange County Register, 11 Apr. 2024
Some likened the episode to an errant American drone strike in Afghanistan in 2022 that killed 10 innocent people, including seven children.
—Adam Rasgon, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2024
Mere minutes later, after play continued and Auburn guard Aden Holloway appeared to step out of bounds trying to save an errant ball, Gates was jumping up and down on the sideline while petitioning with an official.
—Calum McAndrew, Kansas City Star, 5 Mar. 2024
The main issue is not errant American or Taiwanese rhetoric but the mounting threat of very real Chinese violence.
—Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
But McLaughlin snapped the ball too early on the next play, and the errant snap was pounced on by Jalen Milroe for a 13-yard loss.
—Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY, 1 Jan. 2024
That deadly 1980 collision helped lead to the adoption of stronger national standards for bridges, including protection from errant ships, in the years that followed, safety experts said.
—Joel Achenbach, Washington Post, 26 Mar. 2024
The camp is attended by a private staff, who cook meals over a campfire, swap stories about life in the bush, and can help chase away any errant hippos that might wander by.
—Paul Brady, Travel + Leisure, 23 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'errant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Errant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/errant. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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errant
adjective
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