Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Showing results for drifter. Search instead for triftiger.
Definitions

drifter

[drif-ter] / ˈdrɪf tər /


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.

See Examples For:

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

“A man makes his choices,” Baldwin’s crusty, guilt-ridden drifter says to his grandkid at one point.

From Los Angeles Times May 2, 2025

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

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

Collected by gliders, floats and drifters, these instruments provide valuable information about the most turbulent region of the hurricane environment, called the boundary layer, where the air meets the ocean.

From BBC Aug. 29, 2025

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

From Los Angeles Times Jan. 23, 2025

He welcomed her into his commune of misfits and drifters, which called itself the Family and coalesced at a ranch outside of Los Angeles, where she found herself captivated by his wild-eyed charisma.

From Washington Post Feb. 28, 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




Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training