Term Gallery logo

Meanings of drift in English

Portuguese
arrancada
Catalan
impulsió

A force that moves something along.

        arrancada
        Portuguese
        tendência
        Catalan
        corrent
        Spanish
        corriente

        A general tendency to change (as of opinion)

              tendência
              Spanish
              galería

              A horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine.

                    galería
                    Portuguese
                    vadiar
                    Catalan
                    vagar
                    Spanish
                    descarriarse

                    Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment.

                        vadiar
                        Usage of drift in English
                        1
                        However, industry sources said that the deadline may drift into early July.
                        The Irish Times
                        2
                        Get-togethers between friends often naturally drift toward other activities as interests change.
                        Wired
                        3
                        The intercontinental drift of consumer culture is far from a simple back-and-forth.
                        Wired
                        4
                        People are exposed through spray drift, residues on food and water contamination.
                        The Guardian
                        5
                        Type B change only by the more gradual process of antigenic drift.
                        Reuters
                        6
                        The ship did not just drift off course, it started to sink.
                        The Guardian
                        7
                        Nor did he mention the drift net he had seen that morning.
                        Depths
                        8
                        The Government outlawed salmon drift net fishing on the Shannon in 2007.
                        The Irish Times
                        9
                        Even our hut was but a smaller drift in the general picture.
                        The Blue Birds' Winter Nest
                        10
                        Any unevenness in the acceleration and compression of the air produces drift.
                        The Aeroplane Speaks
                        11
                        And in the drift of his silence the vision capriciously failed him.
                        The Best Short Stories of 1915, and the Yearbook of the American...
                        12
                        The same may be said of the drift of population in America.
                        Germany and the Germans from an American Point of View
                        13
                        Mr Reynolds misses the vital point - that drift netting is indiscriminate.
                        The Irish Times
                        14
                        Grave questions arise in connection with immigration, health, and the cityward drift.
                        Problems in American Democracy
                        15
                        The drift stuff was upwards of thirteen feet high in the gum-trees.
                        Explorations in Australia / The Journals of John McDouall Stuart...
                        16
                        The drift of events placed the protesting Republicans in an embarrassing situation.
                        Twenty Years of Congress, Volume 2 / From Lincoln to Garfield, w...
                        About this term
                        More collocations
                        Translations for drift
                        Drift through the time
                        Drift across language varieties
                        United Kingdom
                        Common
                        Ireland
                        Common
                        Australia
                        Common
                        More variants