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.

The tag was also, incidentally, a play on “The Blue Dahlia,” a 1946 movie written by Raymond Chandler and starring Veronica Lake as a plucky drifter who helps the hero track down his wife’s murderer.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 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

Benji, something of a chatty drifter, has never quite found himself, at least not by David’s standards.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 6, 2024

This drifter comes in and says there is nothing wrong with this Asian family, and folks should resist groupthink.

From Salon • Jan. 19, 2024

McCandless had tried to disguise the fact that he was a drifter living out of a backpack: He told his fellow employees that he lived across the river in Laughlin.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer