Search for synonyms and antonyms

Array and Drift

noun

  • An orderly arrangement.
    • usage: "an array of troops in battle order"
  • An impressive display.
    • usage: "it was a bewildering array of books"; "his tools were in an orderly array on the basement wall"
  • Especially fine or decorative clothing.
  • An arrangement of aerials spaced to give desired directional characteristics.

verb

  • Lay out orderly or logically in a line or as if in a line.
    • usage: "lay out the clothes"; "lay out the arguments"
  • Align oneself with a group or a way of thinking.

noun

  • A force that moves something along.
  • The gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane. )
  • A process of linguistic change over a period of time.
  • A large mass of material that is heaped up by the wind or by water currents.
  • A general tendency to change (as of opinion. )
    • usage: "not openly liberal but that is the trend of the book"; "a broad movement of the electorate to the right"
  • The pervading meaning or tenor.
    • usage: "caught the general drift of the conversation"
  • A horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine.
    • usage: "they dug a drift parallel with the vein"

verb

  • Be in motion due to some air or water current.
    • usage: "The leaves were blowing in the wind"; "the boat drifted on the lake"; "The sailboat was adrift on the open sea"; "the shipwrecked boat drifted away from the shore"
  • Wander from a direct course or at random.
    • usage: "The child strayed from the path and her parents lost sight of her"; "don't drift from the set course"
  • Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment.
    • usage: "The gypsies roamed the woods"; "roving vagabonds"; "the wandering Jew"; "The cattle roam across the prairie"; "the laborers drift from one town to the next"; "They rolled from town to town"
  • Vary or move from a fixed point or course.
    • usage: "stock prices are drifting higher"
  • Live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely.
    • usage: "My son drifted around for years in California before going to law school"
  • Move in an unhurried fashion.
    • usage: "The unknown young man drifted among the invited guests"
  • Cause to be carried by a current.
    • usage: "drift the boats downstream"
  • Drive slowly and far afield for grazing.
    • usage: "drift the cattle herds westwards"
  • Be subject to fluctuation.
    • usage: "The stock market drifted upward"
  • Be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current.
    • usage: "snow drifting several feet high"; "sand drifting like snow"
(DoD, NATO) In ballistics, a shift in projectile direction due to gyroscopic action which results from gravitational and atmospherically induced torques on the spinning projectile.