itinerant

[ahy-tin-er-uhnt, ih-tin-]

adjective

1. traveling from place to place, especially on a circuit, as a minister, judge, or sales representative; itinerating; journeying.

   Synonyms: peripatetic, roving, unsettled, migratory, nomadic, wandering
   Antonyms: settled

2. characterized by such traveling.

   itinerant preaching.

3. working in one place for a comparatively short time and then moving on to work in another place, usually as a physical or outdoor laborer; characterized by alternating periods of working and wandering.

   an itinerant farm hand.

   Synonyms: peripatetic, roving, unsettled, migratory, nomadic, wandering

noun

1. a person who alternates between working and wandering.

2. a person who travels from place to place, especially for duty or business.

itinerant

/ ɪˈtɪnərənt, aɪ- /

adjective

1. itinerating

2. working for a short time in various places, esp as a casual labourer

noun

1. an itinerant worker or other person

Other Word Forms

• itinerantly adverb
• unitinerant adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of itinerant¹

1560–70; < Late Latin itinerant- (stem of itinerāns ), present participle of itinerārī to journey, equivalent to itiner- (stem of iter ) journey ( iter ) + -ant- -ant

Word History and Origins

Origin of itinerant¹

C16: from Late Latin itinerārī to travel, from iter a journey

Example Sentences

There was an Army stint in Hawaii, some odd jobs, and then he found what he loved: the itinerant world of the traveling carnival.

From Los Angeles Times

He was born in 1930 to a father who was an itinerant salesman and a mother who ran a small store.

From Los Angeles Times

Starting in McPherson’s native Canada, she follows the future evangelist through early marriages, itinerant preaching, her church in Los Angeles, her fame, her fall and what came after.

From Los Angeles Times

As a spiritually inclined, politically committed itinerant, John is Hester’s polar opposite, poking at her beliefs with the earnestness of a college student drunk on Howard Zinn.

From Los Angeles Times

Martin lacks sufficient hair to have literally tugged his forelock in Trump’s presence, but his position as supplicant — or itinerant entertainer, an Irish tradition if ever there was one — was obvious to all.

From Salon

Related Words

• nomadic 
• peripatetic 
• roving 
• wandering