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peripatetic was our Word of the Day on 09/12/2012. Hear the podcast!
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First Known Use of peripatetic
15th century
Other Philosophy Terms
Definition of peripatetic
2 a
:of, relating to, or given to walking
b
:moving or traveling from place to place :itinerant
Examples of peripatetic in a Sentence
She worked as a peripatetic journalist for most of her life.
He had a peripatetic career as a salesman.
Recent Examples of peripatetic from the Web
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The peripatetic Benan started playing tennis growing up in Istanbul, and had dreams of going pro.
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Like Waterboy, Hawks has retained a core group of employees for years – a feat in such a peripatetic industry.
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At various times in her life, the peripatetic Abercrombie has been a ballroom dancer, boxing promoter and asparagus producer; the one constant in her life has been her love for horses.
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Turning his back on the boxes of fan mail, unsolicited offers from female admirers and potential acting gigs, Wilson reclaimed his privacy and lived a peripatetic life on his own terms for the next two decades.
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His 1997 memoir, All Over but the Shoutin', about growing up in poverty near Jacksonville, Alabama, is about a peripatetic childhood with a brutal, hard-drinking father and an extraordinary mother who refused to give up on her son.
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The honor of writing the epilogue went to Dr. Church himself, whose peripatetic prose is challenging, to put it mildly.
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Facing setbacks if not the outright loss of their majority in the House and with a president peripatetic, GOPers are treating this Congress as strictly a smash-and-grab situation.
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While the state-of-the-art building has turned what was once SFJazz’s flagship event into something of an afterthought, the festival returns the organization to its peripatetic roots.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'peripatetic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Are you someone who likes to think on your feet? If so, you've got something in common with the followers of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Not only a thinker and teacher, Aristotle was also a walker, and his students were required to walk along beside him as he lectured while pacing to and fro. Thus it was that the Greek word peripatētikos (from peripatein, meaning "to walk up and down") came to be associated with Aristotle and his followers. By the way, the covered walk in the Lyceum where Aristotle taught was known as the "peripatos" (which can either refer to the act of walking or a place for walking).
Origin and Etymology of peripatetic
Middle French & Latin; Middle French peripatetique, from Latin peripateticus, from Greek peripatētikos, from peripatein to walk up and down, discourse while pacing (as did Aristotle), from peri- + patein to tread; akin to Sanskrit patha path — more at find
peripatetic Synonyms
Synonyms
ambulant, ambulatory, errant, fugitive, gallivanting (also galavanting), nomad, nomadic, perambulatory, peregrine, itinerant, ranging, roaming, roving, vagabond, vagrant, wandering, wayfaringRelated Words
drifting, footloose, meandering, rambling; sauntering, strolling, traipsing, walking; migrant, migratoryNear Antonyms
immobile, nonmoving, settled, standing, static, stationary; motionless, stillOther Philosophy Terms
PERIPATETIC Defined for English Language Learners
peripatetic
adjective
Definition of peripatetic for English Language Learners
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: going from place to place usually as part of your job
Learn More about peripatetic
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