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Wander Towards Maunder
Maunder looks a lot like meander, and that's not all the two words have in common—both mean "to wander aimlessly," either physically or in speech. Some critics have suggested that while meander can describe a person's verbal and physical rambling, in addition to the wanderings of things like paths and streams, maunder should be limited to wandering words. The problem with that reasoning is that maunder has been used of the physical movements of people since the 18th century, whereas meander didn't acquire that use until the 19th. These days, meander tends to be the more common choice, although maunder does continue to turn up in both applications.
Synonyms
Examples of maunder in a Sentence
Wyatt Mason, Harper’s Magazine , 6 Jan. 2023
Hughes ran efficient and productive meetings, with a low tolerance for maundering or side conversation, but he was given pause by the gravity of the occasion.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New York Times, 14 Dec. 2016
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'maunder.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Maunder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maunder. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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