Meaning & use
adrift
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Meanings
adjectiveafter a verb
Floating on water without power, anchor, or control, often because of damage or being set loose.
Grammar: Most often follows be, go, or set; it is rarely used before a noun.
Patterns
- be adrift
- go adrift
- set something adrift
The small boat was adrift after its engine failed.
A fishing boat went adrift in the night and was found near the rocks.
adjectiveafter a verbfigurative
Lacking clear direction, purpose, or close support.
Grammar: Figurative use is predicative: someone feels adrift or is left adrift, not an adrift plan.
Patterns
- feel adrift
- be left adrift
- adrift in something
After graduation, she felt adrift without a clear plan.
When the funding ended, the project was left adrift.
Common combinations
- go adrift
- The rescue began when the dinghy went adrift.
- set adrift
- The crew set the empty raft adrift.
- feel adrift
- He felt adrift during his first month in a new city.
- come adrift
- The rope came adrift in the storm.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unmoored
- Unmoored can be literal or figurative and often suggests being detached from a fixed point; adrift adds floating or lack of guidance.
- directionless
- Directionless is only figurative and describes lacking aims, while adrift can describe boats or people.
Opposites
Commonly confused: adrift or ashore?
adrift vs ashore
Ashore means on or to land; adrift means floating without control or lacking direction.
Practice
Which sentence uses adrift in the figurative sense?
Choose one answer.
Feeling adrift after losing a job uses the figurative sense of lacking purpose. Option 1 is literal floating without control, while options 3 and 4 involve the opposite idea of land or being secured.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “adrift”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.