drifter

A swaggering drifter named Hal Carter arrives in town looking for work, and by sunset he has thrown the community, especially the fragile Madge Owens, into emotional turmoil.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

A drifter and petty criminal, he had spent much of his time between 2000 and 2017 in the Algarve.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2025

It might have helped if Siff had a sturdier partner, but Alexander’s wan emo sensibility lacks the haunted charisma of a sexy drifter attempting to move on from his past.

From New York Times ● Jul. 18, 2023

Fusing cinematic technique with investigative journalism and activism with art, Morris dissected the troubling case of Randall Dale Adams, a drifter who was charged with the 1976 murder of a Dallas police officer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2023

I am a drifter, and as lonely as that can be, it is also remarkably freeing.

From "Every Day" by David Levithan

In “Moby-Dick,” Herman Melville describes Nantucket as an “ant hill in the sea,” an isolated outpost for whalers and drifters.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026

Juliette Lewis has played murderers, drifters, alcoholics, punk rockers, Reiki healers and roller-derby captains.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2025

Kristofferson turned that tale into the story of two drifters, who find love on the road and are separated, eventually, by death.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2024

In San Antonio and Butte and Cheyenne and Reliance they would meet miners, rodeo hands, slaughterhouse workers, bartenders, drifters, janitors and motel maids.

From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2023

Rail stations, open-air markets, and back alleys in major towns became crowded with starving drifters.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden