Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use wayward in a sentence

21 example sentences · adjective, noun

Wayward means given to a wilful, perverse deviation from the expected norm; tending to stray. Example: “She was a wayward child but came good when she landed a job in the fashion industry.”

Examples of wayward by meaning

adjectiveGiven to a wilful, perverse deviation from the expected norm; tending to stray.

  • He is a brilliant fellow when he chooses to work—one of the brightest intellects of the University, but he is wayward, dissipated, and unprincipled.1904 June, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Three Students”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips...
  • Fancies are like shadows . . . you can’t cage them, they’re such wayward, dancing things.1909 September, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “The Pointing of Duty”, in Anne of Avonlea, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, →OCLC...
  • The prizes, which are the wayward son of the more righteous Nobels, are supposed to reward research that makes people laugh, then think.2004 October 1, Helen Pilcher, “Laughter in the lab”, in Nature, →DOI

adjectiveNot on target.

  • Bulgaria's only attacking weapon was the wayward shooting of Martin Petrov, whereas England's attacking options were awash with movement in the shape of Rooney, Young and Walcott.2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC

nounSomeone, especially a young woman or girl, who is wayward.

  • the wild, half-starved youth whom we style incorrigibles, delinquents, and waywards1908 September 3, “The Real Lindsey”, in Journal of Education
  • The girls classed as first offenders and waywards gave a higher intelligence quotient than the others.1928, Leizer Grimberg, Emotion and Delinquency: A Clinical Study of Five Hundred Criminals in the Making
  • Disobedience and waywardism laws were pioneered on young women, and could be arrested as a disobedient or wayward at the age of 20.2023 March 3, Nathan J. Robinson, quoting Hugh Ryan, “How Queer History Is Buried”, in Current Affairs

More sentences with wayward

  • She was a wayward child but came good when she landed a job in the fashion industry.From the entry come good
  • The wayward son did chine his father's heart.From the entry chine
  • Now Pasha says the ISI is the only organization that can bring the wayward Taliban to heel.2011 April 4, “Ahmad Shuja Pasha”, in Time. From the entry bring to heel
  • Been thinking of my grandfather, whose wayward brilliance skipped my father’s generation.2004, David Mitchell, “Letters From Zedelghem”, in Cloud Atlas, →ISBN, page 81. From the entry aquatint
  • And I was in danger of turning into a right little hooligan if left to my wayward ways.2013, Ken Sears, The Boy From Treacle Bumstead, →ISBN. From the entry hooligan
  • Although The Demeter births the Ploutonian figure that initiates Lucy’s ordeal, it will be Jesus Christ that resolves her wayward vagabonding.2012, Noël Montague-Étienne Rarignac, “The Overturned Lamp”, in The Theology of Dracula: Reading the Book of Stoker as Sacred Text…. From the entry Ploutonian
  • The conflict is rationally resolvable either by correcting the mistaken belief or by bringing the wayward desire under rational control.2006, Daniel McInerny, The Difficult Good, page 134. From the entry rationally
  • Tis a dangerous life, the sea – full of giant beasts, raging storms and wayward ships bobbing around like steel icebergs.2004, Peter Walsh, How to Organize (Just About) Everything: More than 500 Step-by-Step Instructions for Everything from Organizing Your…. From the entry arr
  • "Aye, aye, aye," Federer said when he hit an uncharacteristically wayward shot when serving for the match, such were his comfort levels.2020 January 26, Anthony Colangelo, “[Roger] Federer survives another fright to make quarter-finals”, in The Age, Melbourne, Vic., →ISSN…. From the entry aye
  • Maverick scientist Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) leaves his research vessel to bring back a wayward, genetically altered supermonkey who has escaped in a shuttle.2007, Mark Roncace, Patrick Gray, Teaching the Bible through popular culture and the arts. From the entry supermonkey
  • While the poor fool didn't get his money back, he was about to marry one of the wayward women he had tried to revirginate.1997, Melodie Chenevert, What Next Nurse?: The Career Planner for Panic Stricken Nurses, →ISBN. From the entry revirginate
  • As mentioned earlier, in the strange cliqueries of South Africa, even a wayward white remains white, and is judged by standards of his own tribe.1967, Eugene Heimler, Resistance Against Tyranny, page 54. From the entry cliquery
  • Virtually all of them will swell the ranks of law-abiding, industrious, self-sufficient and successful young Americans, while the numbers among the wayward lawless, dependent, and destitute are noticeably reduced.1989, E. Dorian Gadsden, Progress Against the Tide, page 186. From the entry swell the ranks
  • The lack of a second analog stick makes aiming and strafing somewhat difficult, though the game compensates by including an “aim assist” feature to help wayward shots find their mark.2007 October, Ryan Burke, “Call of Duty: Roads to Victory, by Activision, 2007, $39.99.”, in Military History, volume 24, number 7, Weider…. From the entry aim assist

Meaning of wayward

  1. adjective Given to a wilful, perverse deviation from the expected norm; tending to stray.
  2. adjective Obstinate, contrary and unpredictable.
  3. adjective Not on target.

Full definition of wayward

Questions about wayward in a sentence

How do you use wayward in a sentence?
Wayward is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “She was a wayward child but came good when she landed a job in the fashion industry.”
What is a short sentence with wayward?
“The wayward son did chine his father's heart.”
What does wayward mean?
Wayward means given to a wilful, perverse deviation from the expected norm; tending to stray.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wayward (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use wayward in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/wayward. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.