roam

Meanings

1. 1verbtransitive or intransitive

   To travel or wander over a wide area without a fixed plan or destination.

   Grammar: Can be used alone or with a place: cattle roam; they roamed the hills.

   Patterns

   • roam around
   • roam the streets
   • roam through something

   Wild horses roam across the plains.

   We spent the afternoon roaming the old town.

   Children roamed freely around the farm.

2. 2verbintransitivetechnical

   To use a mobile phone or device on a network other than your own, usually while abroad.

   Grammar: No object: your phone may roam abroad.

   Patterns

   • roam abroad
   • roam on a network

   My phone roams automatically when I travel to Spain.

   Switch off data so you don't roam and run up charges.

   Customers can roam in more than fifty countries.

Word forms

Common combinations

roam free

The chickens roam free in the yard.

roam the streets

Teenagers roamed the streets after the match.

roam around

We roamed around the market for hours.

roam the countryside

He loves to roam the countryside on his bike.

roam freely

Visitors can roam freely through the gardens.

Synonyms and how they differ

wander

Wander can suggest drifting without purpose and even getting a little lost, while roam implies covering a large area with some freedom.

rove

Rove is a more literary word that suggests restless movement over a wide area.

stray

Stray means to move away from where one should be, so it often implies leaving a proper place or path.

drift

Drift suggests being carried along slowly without effort or direction, while roam sounds more active.

Opposites

Word family

roamer noun

a person or animal that roams

roaming noun

the use of a phone on a foreign network

roamable adjective

able to be roamed, rarely used

Commonly confused: roam or Rome?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “roam”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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