Word Study
adrift
CIDE DICTIONARY
adrift, adv. & a. [Pref. a- (for on) + drift.].
Floating at random; in a drifting condition; at the mercy of wind and waves. Also fig. [1913 Webster]
"So on the sea shall be set adrift." [1913 Webster]
"Were from their daily labor turned adrift." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
adrift, adv. & predic.adj.
1 drifting.
2 at the mercy of circumstances.
3 colloq. a unfastened. b out of touch. c absent without leave. d (often foll. by of) failing to reach a target. e out of order. f ill-informed.
1 drifting.
2 at the mercy of circumstances.
3 colloq. a unfastened. b out of touch. c absent without leave. d (often foll. by of) failing to reach a target. e out of order. f ill-informed.
Etymology
A(2) + DRIFT
THESAURUS
adrift
abashed, aberrant, abroad, afloat, all abroad, all off, all wrong, alternating, amiss, amorphous, askew, astray, at fault, at sea, aweigh, awry, beside the mark, beside the point, beside the question, bewildered, bothered, capricious, cast-off, changeable, changeful, clear, clueless, confused, corrupt, deceptive, defective, delusive, desultory, deviable, deviant, deviational, deviative, discomposed, disconcerted, dismayed, disoriented, distorted, distracted, distraught, disturbed, dizzy, eccentric, embarrassed, errant, erratic, erring, erroneous, extraneous, extrinsic, fallacious, false, fast and loose, faultful, faulty, fickle, fitful, flawed, flickering, flighty, flitting, floating, fluctuating, freakish, free, giddy, guessing, heretical, heterodox, illogical, illusory, immaterial, impertinent, impetuous, impulsive, in a fix, in a maze, in a pickle, in a scrape, in a stew, inadmissible, inapplicable, inapposite, inappropriate, incidental, inconsequent, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive, infirm, irregular, irrelative, irrelevant, irresolute, irresponsible, loose, lost, mazed, mazy, mercurial, moody, nihil ad rem, nonessential, not at issue, not right, not true, off, off the subject, off the track, out, out-of-the-way, parenthetical, peccant, perturbed, perverse, perverted, put-out, rambling, restless, rickety, roving, scatterbrained, self-contradictory, shaky, shapeless, shifting, shifty, shuffling, spasmodic, spineless, started, straying, turned around, unaccountable, unanchored, unbound, uncertain, uncontrolled, undependable, undisciplined, undone, unessential, unfactual, unfastened, unfixed, unmoored, unorthodox, unpredictable, unproved, unreliable, unrestrained, unsettled, unstable, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady, unstuck, untied, untrue, upset, vacillating, vagrant, variable, vicissitudinary, vicissitudinous, volatile, wandering, wanton, wavering, wavery, wavy, wayward, whimsical, wide, wishy-washy, without a clue, wrongROGET THESAURUS
adrift
Irrelation
N irrelation, dissociation, misrelation, inapplicability, inconnection, multifariousness, disconnection, inconsequence, independence, incommensurability, irreconcilableness, heterogeneity, unconformity, irrelevancy, impertinence, nihil ad rem, intrusion, non-pertinence, irrelative, irrespective, unrelated, arbitrary, independent, unallied, unconnected, disconnected, adrift, isolated, insular, extraneous, strange, alien, foreign, outlandish, exotic, not comparable, incommensurable, heterogeneous, unconformable, irrelevant, inapplicable, not pertinent, not to the, purpose, impertinent, inapposite, beside the mark, a propos de bottes, aside from the purpose, away from the purpose, foreign to the purpose, beside the purpose, beside the question, beside the transaction, beside the point, misplaced, traveling out of the record, remote, far-fetched, out of the way, forced, neither here nor there, quite another thing, detached, segregate, disquiparant, multifarious, discordant, incidental, parenthetical, obiter dicta, episodic, parenthetically, by the way, by the by, en passant, incidentally, irrespectively, without reference to, without regard to, in the abstract, a se.Disjunction
N disjunction, disconnection, disunity, disunion, disassociation, disengagement, discontinuity, abjunction, cataclasm, inconnection, abstraction, abstractedness, isolation, insularity, insulation, oasis, island, separateness, severalty, disjecta membra, dispersion, apportionment, separation, parting, circumcision, detachment, segregation, divorce, sejunction, seposition, diduction, diremption, discerption, elision, caesura, break, fracture, division, subdivision, rupture, compartition, dismemberment, dislocation, luxation, severance, disseverance, scission, rescission, abscission, laceration, dilaceration, disruption, abruption, avulsion, divulsion, section, resection, cleavage, fission, partibility, separability, fissure, breach, rent, split, rift, crack, slit, incision, dissection anatomy, decomposition, cutting instrument, buzzsaw, circular saw, rip saw, separatist, disjoined, discontinuous, multipartite, abstract, disjunctive, secant, isolated, insular, separate, disparate, discrete, apart, asunder, far between, loose, free, unattached, unannexed, unassociated, unconnected, distinct, adrift, straggling, rift, reft, scissile, divisible, discerptible, partible, separable, separately, one by one, severally, apart, adrift, asunder, in twain, in the abstract, abstractedly, disjunction, disconnection, disunity, disunion, disassociation, disengagement, discontinuity, abjunction, cataclasm, inconnection, abstraction, abstractedness, isolation, insularity, insulation, oasis, island, separateness, severalty, disjecta membra, dispersion, apportionment, separation, parting, circumcision, detachment, segregation, divorce, sejunction, seposition, diduction, diremption, discerption, elision, caesura, break, fracture, division, subdivision, rupture, compartition, dismemberment, dislocation, luxation, severance, disseverance, scission, rescission, abscission, laceration, dilaceration, disruption, abruption, avulsion, divulsion, section, resection, cleavage, fission, partibility, separability, fissure, breach, rent, split, rift, crack, slit, incision, dissection anatomy, decomposition, cutting instrument, buzzsaw, circular saw, rip saw, separatist, disjoined, discontinuous, multipartite, abstract, disjunctive, secant, isolated, insular, separate, disparate, discrete, apart, asunder, far between, loose, free, unattached, unannexed, unassociated, unconnected, distinct, adrift, straggling, rift, reft, scissile, divisible, discerptible, partible, separable, separately, one by one, severally, apart, adrift, asunder, in twain, in the abstract, abstractedly.Dispersion
N nonassemblage, dispersion, dispersion, disjunction, divergence, aspersion, scattering, dissemination, diffusion, dissipation, distribution, apportionment, spread, respersion, circumfusion, interspersion, spargefaction, affusion, waifs and estrays, flotsam and jetsam, disjecta membra waveson, unassembled &c (assemble), dispersed, sparse, dispread, broadcast, sporadic, widespread, epidemic, adrift, stray, disheveled, streaming, sparsim, here and there, passim.Unskillfulness
N unskillfulness, want of skill, incompetence, incompentency, inability, infelicity, indexterity, inexperience, disqualification, unproficiency, quackery, folly, stupidity indiscretion, thoughtlessness, sabotage, mismanagement, misconduct, impolicy, maladministration, misrule, misgovernment, misapplication, misdirection, misfeasance, petticoat government, absence of rule, rule of thumb, bungling, failure, screw loose: too many cooks, blunder, etourderie gaucherie, act of folly, balourdise, botch, botchery, bad job, sad work, sprat sent out to catch a whale, much ado about nothing, wild- goose chase, bungler, fool, unskillful, inexpert, bungling, awkward, clumsy, unhandy, lubberly, gauche, maladroit, left-handed, heavy-handed, slovenly, slatternly, gawky, adrift, at fault, inapt, unapt, inhabile, untractable, unteachable, giddy, inconsiderate, stupid inactive, incompetent, unqualified, disqualified, ill-qualified, unfit, quackish, raw, green, inexperienced, rusty, out of practice, unaccustomed, unused, untrained &c, uninitiated, unconversant, shiftless, unstatesmanlike, unadvised, ill-advised, misadvised, ill-devised, ill-imagined, ill-judged, ill-contrived, ill-conducted, unguided, misguided, misconducted, foolish, wild, infelicitous, penny wise and pound foolish, one's fingers being all thumbs, the right hand forgets its cunning, il se noyerait dans une goutte d'eau, incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim, out of the frying pan into the fire, non omnia possumus omnes.Uncertainty
N uncertainty, incertitude, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubitation, dubitancy, dubitousness, hesitation, suspense, perplexity, embarrassment, dilemma, bewilderment, timidity, vacillation, diaporesis, indetermination, vagueness, haze, fog, obscurity, ambiguity, contingency, dependence, dependency, double contingency, possibility upon a possibility, open question, onus probandi, blind bargain, pig in a poke, leap in the dark, something or other, needle in a haystack, needle in a bottle of hay, roving commission, precariousness, fallibility, uncertain, casual, random, changeable, doubtful, dubious, indecisive, unsettled, undecided, undetermined, in suspense, open to discussion, controvertible, in question, vague, indeterminate, indefinite, ambiguous, equivocal, undefined, undefinable, confused, mystic, oracular, dazed, perplexing, enigmatic, paradoxical, apocryphal, problematical, hypothetical, experimental, unpredictable, unforeseeable (unknowable), fallible, questionable, precarious, slippery, ticklish, debatable, disputable, unreliable, untrustworthy, contingent, contingent on, dependent on, subject to, dependent on circumstances, occasional, provisional, unauthentic, unauthenticated, unauthoritative, unascertained, unconfirmed, undemonstrated, untold, uncounted, in a state of uncertainty, in a cloud, in a maze, bushed, off the track, ignorant, afraid to say, out of one's reckoning, astray, adrift, at sea, at fault, at a loss, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, puzzled, lost, abroad, d_esorient_e, distracted, distraught, pendente lite, sub spe rati, Heaven knows, who can tell? who shall decide when doctors disagr.For further exploring for "adrift" in Webster Dictionary Online