straggler

Noun

straggler (plural stragglers)

1. Someone who goes against the direct or proper course, or from the company to which they belong.
   • She recounted her life in pre-World War II Eastern Europe and how a ragtag band of Red Army stragglers, escaped prisoners of war and Jewish and gentile Resistance fighters — including some women — harassed the Germans behind the Wehrmacht’s front lines in the forests and swamps of what is now...2021 May 28, Sam Roberts, “Faye Schulman Dies; Fought Nazis With a Rifle and a Camera”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
2. One who falls behind the rest, for example in a race.
   • This isn't the 1970s, when the UK stood out as the European straggler.2025 July 31, Janan Ganesh, “Britain is not a broken society”, in Financial Times, page 17
3. One who roams without any settled direction.
4. A migratory animal found away from its usual range.
5. A roving vagabond.
6. Something that shoots, or spreads out, beyond the rest, or too far; an exuberant growth.
7. Something that stands alone or by itself.