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 man makes his choices,” Baldwin’s crusty, guilt-ridden drifter says to his grandkid at one point.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2025
To some, he was a rollicking drifter in ragamuffin punk tatters.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2023
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
Or it could be a drifter who had come through town and they’d buried him where he’d dropped dead.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
Bunney described jellyfish as weak swimmers or "passive drifters" which rely on ocean currents to carry them.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
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
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
The minute she said that, all the drifters looked up.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
