Meaning & use
astray
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Meanings
adverbnot comparable
Away from the right route or place, so as to be lost or wandering.
Grammar: Follows verbs like go, lead or wander: the cattle went astray.
Patterns
- go astray
- lead someone astray
- wander astray
Two of the sheep had gone astray in the fog.
The dog slipped its lead, went astray and was found two streets away.
If a letter goes astray, the post office can trace it.
adverbnot comparable
Into mistaken ideas or wrong behavior.
Grammar: Usually follows lead or go, with a person as object when leading: bad friends led him astray.
Patterns
- lead someone astray
- go astray
He was led astray by older boys who skipped school.
Our plans went astray when the funding was cut.
One wrong assumption led the whole team astray.
Common combinations
- go astray
- Parcels sometimes go astray in the mail.
- lead someone astray
- Don't let him lead you astray.
- wander astray
- A few ducklings wandered astray.
- things go astray
- When things go astray, we fix them calmly.
- be led astray
- She was led astray by bad advice.
Synonyms and how they differ
- lost
- Lost is the plain word for not knowing where you are, whereas astray can also mean moral or logical error.
- adrift
- Adrift suggests floating without direction or purpose, usually at sea or in life.
- off course
- Off course is a plain way to describe departing from a planned route or plan.
- wrong
- Wrong simply means incorrect, with none of the sense of wandering away.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: astray or astrayed?
astray vs astrayed
Astray is not a verb, so there is no form astrayed; use strayed or went astray instead.
Practice
The tourists followed a wrong sign, and soon they had gone ___.
Choose one answer.
Go astray is a fixed phrase meaning to lose the right way. Afar and adrift of do not fit this pattern, and away means something different.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “astray”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.