peregrinate

1 of 2

verb

per·​e·​gri·​nate ˈper-ə-grə-ˌnāt 

peregrinated; peregrinating

intransitive verb

: to travel especially on foot : walk

transitive verb

: to walk or travel over : traverse

peregrination

ˌper-ə-grə-ˈnā-shən 

noun

peregrination

2 of 2

noun

per·​e·​gri·​na·​tion

plural -s

1

a

: an act of traveling or traversing

stopped a moment in his peregrination of the room

—J. C. Snaith

especially : foreign travel

b

: an excursion especially on foot or to a foreign country : journey, travel

—usually used in plural

his anthropological peregrinations took him into the hylean Amazon

desire to promote national sentiment through the peregrinations of the Supreme Court justices maintained the circuit riding system

—Felix Frankfurter

built great boats for his posthumous peregrinations

—J. D. Hillaby

c obsolete

(1)

: a stay in a foreign country : sojourn, exile

(2)

: the period of man's life on earth

pray that God would pour down upon us graces for our peregrination here

—John Donne

2

: a widely ranging discourse or treatment

an unevenly rambling intellectual peregrination

—Jacob Hammer

Did you know?

We begin our narrative of the linguistic travels of peregrinate with the Latin word peregrinatus, the past participle of peregrinari, which means "to travel in foreign lands." The verb is derived from the Latin word for "foreigner," peregrinus, which was earlier used as an adjective meaning "foreign."That term also gave us the words pilgrim and peregrine, the latter of which once meant "alien" but is now used as an adjective meaning "tending to wander" and as a noun naming a kind of falcon. (The peregrine falcon is so named because it was traditionally captured during its first flight—or pilgrimage—from the nest.)

Synonyms of peregrinate

Verb

• traverse
• cross
• follow
• walk
• travel
• navigate
• cut (across)

Examples of peregrinate in a Sentence

Verb

Jack Kerouac's celebrated novel about penniless free spirits peregrinating the United States.

a couple of backpacking college students who decided to spend the summer peregrinating around Ireland

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle French or Latin; Middle French, from Latin peregrination-, peregrinatio, from peregrinatus (past participle of peregrinari) + -ion-, -io -ion

First Known Use

Verb

1593, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

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Kids Definition

peregrinate

verb

per·​e·​gri·​nate ˈper-ə-grə-ˌnāt 

peregrinated; peregrinating

: to travel especially on foot

peregrination

ˌper-ə-grə-ˈnā-shən 

noun