adrift

English

Etymology

From a- +‎ drift.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ə-drĭft', IPA^(key): /əˈdɹɪft/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪft

Adjective

adrift (comparative more adrift, superlative most adrift)

1. Floating at random.
   • 1673, John Dryden, Marriage à la mode:

     So on the sea she shall be set adrift.

2. (of a seaman) Absent from his watch.
3. (chiefly UK, often with of) Behind one's opponents, or below a required threshold in terms of score, number or position.

   The team were six points adrift of their rivals.

   • 1996, David H. Begg, Monetary Policy in Central and Eastern Europe: Lessons After Half a Decade, International Monetary Fund, →ISBN:

     The Czech Republic in 1994-95, with a pegged nominal exchange rate and nominal deposit rates of 7 percent, was several percentage points adrift of the interest parity condition.

   • 2006, Brian Long, Subaru Impreza: The Road Car & WRC Story, →ISBN, page 56:

     He did well, coming second, but Toyota and Mitsubishi were now neck-and-neck, with the Subaru team 38 points adrift of the leaders.

   • 2012 April 18, Anthony Vickers, “Boro 0 Doncaster Rovers 0”, in The Evening Gazette (Teeside)‎:

     Boro were left needing snookers after a toothless goalless draw with Dead Men Walking Doncaster left them well adrift and fading in the chase for a Championship play-off place.

   • 2014 December 21, Phil McNulty, “Liverpool 2 - 2 Arsenal”, in BBC‎:

     Brendan Rodgers's team moved into the top 10 in the Premier League table, but they are nine points adrift of West Ham in fourth place, while Arsenal are sixth.

   • 2024 September 4, Philip Haigh, “Can public-private partnerships be made to deliver?”, in RAIL, number 1017, page 53:

     Treasury could also ask why High Speed 2's finances are so adrift from what was promised. The answers will make for difficult DfT reading, because it can't escape the fact that it has been the government department overseeing rail spending for the past 20 years.

Translations

floating at random

Catalan: a la deriva Danish: drivende omkring Finnish: tuuliajolla (fi) French: à la dérive German: abtreibend (de) Hindi: अपवाहित (hi) (apvāhit) Italian: alla deriva Malay: hanyut Portuguese: à deriva (pt) Romanian: în derivă Spanish: a la deriva (es) Swedish: på drift, utan mal

Adverb

adrift (comparative more adrift, superlative most adrift)

1. In a drifting condition; at the mercy of wind and waves.
   • 1858, John Mullaly, The Laying of the Cable, Or the Ocean Telegraph‎, page 231:

     things wore on till eight or nine o'clock, every thing getting adrift and being smashed, and every one on board jamming themselves up in corners or holding on to beams to prevent their going adrift likewise

Translations

in a drifting condition

Finnish: tuuliajolla (fi) French: à la dérive German: abtreiben (de) Italian: alla deriva Portuguese: à deriva (pt) Romanian: în derivă Spanish: a la deriva (es)

Derived terms

• cast adrift
• run adrift
• set adrift

 

Anagrams

• Tardif