aimless
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- aimlessly adverb
- aimlessness noun
Etymology
Origin of aimless
Explanation
If you're aimless, you don't have a destination or a goal in mind. Aimless wandering through a forest might take you in circles, or worse yet, get you lost. The adjective aimless is good for describing things that have no particular purpose or plan. You might prefer traveling with a map or GPS, while your best friend likes to drive in an aimless way, turning down dirt roads or exiting the highway impulsively. When you call a person aimless, you probably mean that he doesn't appear to have any ambition: "My brother's an aimless drifter." Aimless comes from aim, "purpose" or "target."
Vocabulary lists containing aimless
Achievement First 6th Grade IA 1 Words
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"La Vida Robot" and "Reading, Writing and... Recreation"
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Bill Withers (1938–2020) Tribute List
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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 latest edition of the prominent, often controversial survey of American art is an aimless overview that offers little memorable work.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 7, 2026
And that in turn prevents you from aimless or unthinking financial behavior.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 24, 2025
Architecture was in a funk, aimless and beaten down by the recession of the early and middle 1990s.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2025
“Lurker” might not be the story of Hawk Tuah exactly, but Russell cleverly understands that just because someone seems aimless, that doesn’t mean they don’t know what they want.
From Salon • Aug. 26, 2025
The boat drifted in aimless, small circles, as still as if we were on a tiny pond in somebody’s yard.
From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
