drifter
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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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
Made him feel worse than I did watching poor Trevor leveling the floor like some drifter slaving for a night’s rest in a bed.
From "Worth" by A. LaFaye
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
It has become an oasis for the disaffected, the drifters and the curious who are trying to escape the cutthroat competition and suffocating political environment of China’s megacities.
From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2024
Where the old drifters keep moving sign used to hang, a new billboard in fancy lettering read: “You’re in trouble right there,” Mary Alice remarked to me.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
