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Pronunciation Guide
HOW TO PRONOUNCE

drift

/dɹɪft/

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What does drift mean?

noun

  1. Anything driven at random.
  2. A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., especially by wind or water.
  3. The distance through which a current flows in a given time.
More meanings (41)

noun

  1. The animals being moved in a drive, as of cattle, goats, horses, pigs or sheep.
  2. A group of birds moving together.
  3. A collection of loose earth and rocks, or boulders, which have been distributed over large portions of the earth's surface, especially in latitudes north of forty degrees, by the retreat of continental glaciers, such as that which buries former river valleys and creates young river valleys.
  4. A collection of logs floating down a river.
  5. Driftwood included in flotsam washed up onto the beach.
  6. Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting.
  7. That which is driven, forced, or urged along.
  8. The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.
  9. A place (a ford) along a river where the water is shallow enough to permit crossing to the opposite side.
  10. The tendency of an act, argument, course of conduct, or the like; object aimed at or intended; intention; hence, also, import or meaning of a sentence or discourse; aim.
  11. The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.
  12. A slightly tapered tool of steel for enlarging or shaping a hole in metal, by being forced or driven into or through it; a broach.
  13. A tool used to pack down the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework.
  14. A tool used to insert or extract a removable pin made of metal or hardwood, for the purpose of aligning and/or securing two pieces of material together.
  15. A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to obloid projectiles.
  16. Minor deviation of audio or video playback from its correct speed.
  17. The situation where a performer gradually and unintentionally moves from their proper location within the scene.
  18. A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery.
  19. An adit or tunnel driven forward for purposes of exploration or exploitation; generally eventually to a dead end.
  20. A sloping winze or road to the surface, for purposes of haulage.
  21. In a coal mine, a heading driven for exploration or ventilation.
  22. Of a boring or a driven tunnel: deviation from the intended course.
  23. A heading driven through a seam of coal.
  24. The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.
  25. The distance a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes.
  26. The place in a deep-waisted vessel where the sheer is raised and the rail is cut off, and usually terminated with a scroll, or driftpiece.
  27. The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.
  28. The difference between the size of a bolt and the hole into which it is driven, or between the circumference of a hoop and that of the mast on which it is to be driven.
  29. A sideways movement of the ball through the air, when bowled by a spin bowler.
  30. Slow, cumulative change.
  31. In the New Forest National Park, UK, the bi-annual round-up of wild ponies in order to sell them.
  32. (obsolete) A driving; a violent movement.

verb

  1. To move slowly, especially pushed by currents of water, air, etc.
  2. To move haphazardly without any destination.
  3. To deviate gently from the intended direction of travel.
  4. To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body.
  5. To drive into heaps.
  6. To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven into heaps.
  7. To make a drift; to examine a vein or ledge for the purpose of ascertaining the presence of metals or ores; to follow a vein; to prospect.
  8. To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.
  9. To oversteer a vehicle, causing loss of traction, while maintaining control from entry to exit of a corner. See Drifting (motorsport).
Wiktionary contributors

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/dɹɪft/

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

So the boat was left to drift down the stream as it would, till it glided gently in among the waving rushes.
Lewis CarrollThrough the Looking-GlassProject Gutenberg ebook #12
Hilda rose quickly, as if she wished to change the drift of their talk, but Bartley found it pleasant to continue it.
Willa CatherAlexander's BridgeProject Gutenberg ebook #94
More book examples (3)
But she did not know how to do what she knew she ought to do about Penelope, and she let matters drift.
William Dean HowellsThe Rise of Silas LaphamProject Gutenberg ebook #154
And, indeed, as he spoke, the first few flakes, foreseen by the man of chestnuts, began to drift across the darkening windowpane.
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) ChestertonThe innocence of Father BrownProject Gutenberg ebook #204
The whole drift of modern religious feeling is against this exaggeration of sexual feeling, these moods of sexual slavishness, in spiritual things.
H. G. (Herbert George) WellsGod, the Invisible KingProject Gutenberg ebook #1046