adrift

5 definitions • 5 examples

If a boat is adrift, it is moving on the water but is not controlled by anyone because of a problem:

He spent three days adrift on his yacht.

If a person is adrift, they do not have a clear purpose in life or know what they want to do:

Da Silva plays a bright, lonely student from New York, adrift in small-town Arizona.

to become loose:

The hem of my skirt's come adrift again.

If plans go adrift, they fail or do not produce the correct results:

Something seems to have gone adrift in our calculations.

(of a boat) not fastened and moving with the sea and wind, or fig. not controlled and living without a clear purpose or direction:

fig. Hopeful actors from small towns are often adrift in New York.