go astray

Idioms and Phrases

Wander off the right path or subject; also, wander into evil or error. For example, It was hard to follow the lecturer's gist, since he kept going astray , or The gang members led him astray, and he ended up in court . This expression alludes to sheep or other animals that stray from the rest of the flock. Indeed, Handel's oratorio Messiah (1741) has this chorus: “All we like sheep have gone astray, Every one to his own way.” [c. 1300]

Example Sentences

There’s no space to go astray; their energy is concentrated.

From Los Angeles Times

Some good news about China's relations with the other world superpower would not go astray.

From BBC

It’s just that I go astray here and there.”

From New York Times

However, it’s only too soon that things go astray from the kind of filmmaking that made “Black Dynamite” such a contemporary cult classic.

From Los Angeles Times

“I didn’t want my family to go astray and be no good to the world.”

From New York Times

Related Words

• deviate
• drift
• err
• meander
• roam
• swerve