stray

1 of 3

noun

1
a
: a domestic animal that is wandering at large or is lost
b
: a person or thing that strays
2
[Middle English, from straien to stray] archaic : the act of going astray

stray

2 of 3

verb

strayed; straying; strays

intransitive verb

: wander: such as
a
: to wander from company, restraint, or proper limits
b
: to roam about without fixed direction or purpose
c
: to move in a winding course : meander
d
: to move without conscious or intentional effort
eyes straying absently around the room
e
: to become distracted from an argument or train of thought
strayed from the point
f
: to wander accidentally from a fixed or chosen route
g
: err, sin
strayer noun

stray

3 of 3

adjective

1
: having strayed or escaped from a proper or intended place
a stray dog
2
: occurring at random or sporadically
stray thoughts
3
: not serving any useful purpose : unwanted
stray light

Examples of stray in a Sentence

Noun Both of her cats were strays that she found wandering in the neighborhood. Verb The airplane strayed off course. our straying son swears he's returned to the straight and narrow Adjective stray sightings of UFO's, none of which have been rigorously analyzed by scientists
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
Trump’s allies have also caught strays. Jack Dunn, Variety, 4 Sep. 2025 Schaafsma also encourages those who find strays to work a little harder to find the owners before turning to the shelter. Shelley Jones, Chicago Tribune, 28 Aug. 2025
Verb
In rebooting Troma Entertainment’s cult favorite icon, the filmmaker didn’t want to stray too far from the source material — at least in terms of overall tone. Josh Weiss, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025 The company tends to settle for mid-tier brands and celebrities in their marketing, straying from its core strength in winterwear, Jiang added. Anniek Bao, CNBC, 27 Aug. 2025
Adjective
Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, was killed by stray bullets in Washington on June 30. Nadine El-Bawab, ABC News, 5 Sep. 2025 These teams’ Aaron Rodgers/Justin Fields offseason QB swap earned this matchup a few stray votes from our Game of the Week panel. Greg Cote september 4, Miami Herald, 4 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for stray

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Anglo-French estraié, past participle of estraier

Verb

Middle English straien, from Anglo-French estraier, from Vulgar Latin *extravagare, from Latin extra- outside + vagari to wander — more at extra-

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

1589, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of stray was in the 13th century

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Stray.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stray. Accessed 6 Sep. 2025.

Kids Definition

stray

1 of 3 noun
1
: a domestic animal that is wandering loose or is lost
2
: a person or thing that strays

stray

2 of 3 verb
1
: to wander from a group or from the proper place : roam
the dog strayed from the yard
2
: to wander from a fixed or chosen route or at random
accidentally strayed off the path
3
: to become distracted from an argument or chain of thought
strayed from the point
strayer noun

stray

3 of 3 adjective
1
: having strayed or been lost
a stray dog
2
: occurring in one place and another or at random
a few stray hairs

More from Merriam-Webster on stray

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!