Did you know?
Errant has a split history. It comes from Anglo-French, a language in which two confusingly similar verbs with identical spellings ("errer") coexisted. One errer meant "to err" and comes from the Latin errare, meaning "to wander" or "to err." The second errer meant "to travel," and traces to the Latin iter, meaning "road" or "journey." Both "errer" homographs contributed to the development of "errant," which not surprisingly has to do with both moving about and being mistaken. A "knight-errant" travels around in search of adventures. Cowboys round up "errant calves." An "errant child" is one who misbehaves. (You might also see "arrant" occasionally - it's a word that originated as an alteration of "errant" and that usually means "extreme" or "shameless.")
Synonyms
Examples of errant in a Sentence
Khobi Price, Orange County Register, 6 Nov. 2024
And that was clear to see as he was often errant with his throws, struggling to find his receivers.
—Ben Morse, CNN, 21 Oct. 2024
The hapless Wallace and his wily hound Gromit cross paths with an errant gnome in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.
—Antonia Blyth, Deadline, 12 Oct. 2024
In November 2022, two Polish farmers were killed when an errant Ukrainian missile fell in Polish territory.
—Ellen Mitchell, The Hill, 30 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for errant 
Articles Related to errant
Dictionary Entries Near errant
Cite this Entry
“Errant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/errant. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
errant
adjective
Share