wanderlust
Syllables: wan·der·lust/ˈwɒndəlʌst/US/ˈwɑndɚˌlʌst/
wanderlust noun: a strong impulse or longing to travel.
Noun (1)
wanderlust (countable and uncountable, plural wanderlusts)
- A strong impulse or longing to travel.
- Very often we made detours from the main caravan, rejoining it at a given spot, and this spirit of "wanderlust" brought us into a nice quandary one fine day.1908, Agnes Herbert, “Death of ‘The Baron’”, in Two Dianas in Somaliland: The Record of a Shooting Trip, London: John Lane, The Bodley Head; New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, →OCLC, page 119
- For the long trail stretched before us, for we heard the call, / Left the hearthstone and the homeland, felt the rover's thrall; / Wandered to the far horizon, sought the joy of life— / Now the wanderlust is waning, heimweh now is rife.1908 December 12, Harry Davids, Tom Springer, “Christmas Sorrows”, in Alfred Holman, editor, The Argonaut, volume LXIII, number 1655, San Francisco, Calif.: Argonaut Publishing Company, →OCLC, page...
- Synonyms:
- farsickness, itchy feet, travel bug
- Antonyms:
- Heimweh, homesickness
- An impulse to be unfaithful or seek out other romantic or sexual partners; a straying heart.
- Males like lots of rapid anonymous sex. It's a biological drive. When you get a male-female couple together the male often gives up his wanderlust in exchange for the security of having a home.1994 January 24, David A. Kaye, “Glory Holes”, in soc.motss (Usenet)
- I was the slapper ... was in a short piece where I was a jealous girlfriend who slapped my date for his wanderlust.1998 June 2, DoveCrye, “Face Slapping - Real or Faked?”, in alt.acting (Usenet)
Verb
wanderlust (third-person singular simple present wanderlusts, present participle wanderlusting, simple past and past participle wanderlusted)
- To feel a strong impulse or longing to travel.
- Yes, he probably saw a picture of the South Sea islands last night, and now he is wanderlusting.1922, Bull’s-Eye, New Orleans, La.: Associated Rice Millers of America, →OCLC, page 6, column 2
- To roam or travel widely.
- "Be assured that we will never weary listening to tales related by one who has wanderlusted so many years," flattered Mrs. Cunningham, [...]1915, “A-No. 1” [pseudonym; Leon Ray Livingston], The Ways of the Hobo […], 6th edition, Erie, Pa.: The A-No. 1 Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 85
- It was the joy of our lives to be once more "hitting the trail," lustily as ever, Sunday last, under the brave lead of one who started the community hike here, and who, after three months wanderlusting in other lands must rejoice to find that a few brave scouts have kept up the good work here and...1916 January, “To Takoma Park—A Self-explanatory Letter”, in Elliot R. Downing, editor, Nature-Study Review, volume XII, number 1, Ithaca, N.Y.: Comstock Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 37
Noun (2) capitalized: Wanderlust
Wanderlust (countable and uncountable, plural Wanderlusts)
- Alternative letter-case form of wanderlust.
- The Wanderlust has lured me to the seven lonely seas, / Has dumped me on the tailing-piles of dearth; / The Wanderlust has haled me from the morris chairs of ease, / Has hurled me to the ends of all the earth.1912, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Wanderlust”, in Rhymes of a Rolling Stone, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 123
- Apart from a visit to Paris in 1825 he [Adelbert von Chamisso] enjoyed the peace of his home and of his study at Berlin until the hour of his death without any further visitations of Wanderlust.1932, August C[arl] Mahr, “Introduction”, in The Visit of the “Rurik” to San Francisco in 1816 (Stanford University Publications, University Series ; History, Economics, and Political Science; volume...
Examples of wanderlust in a sentence
- They were deliriously happy for a few years, but always her soul felt the call of wanderlust.1933, “Germany [Paula Becker Modersohn (1876–1907)]”, in Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, compiler, 400 Outstanding Women of the World and...
- If you find yourself suffering from an attack of Wanderlust, this is the book for you!1937 April, “New Publications in the Leisure Time Field”, in Recreation, volume XXXI, number 1, New York, N.Y.: National Recreation...
- [Edward Verrall] Lucas is no less interested in places, imbued as he has always been with wanderlust.1972 April–June, Visvanath Chatterjee, “E. V. Lucas: Prince of Essayists”, in The Calcutta Review, volume III, number 4 (New Series)...
- His death brings to light the thwarted ambitions, bridled emotions, unfulfilled loves, or unsatisfied wanderlusts of his surviving friends.1987, John Wilson Foster, “Betraying Presences: Fictional Tidings from Cork, Galway, and the Midlands—Daniel Corkery, Brinsley MacNamara...
Synonyms of wanderlust
Antonyms
Forms of wanderlust
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | wanderlusts |
| alternative form | Wanderlust |
| plural | Wanderlusts |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | wanderlusts |
| present participle | wanderlusting |
| past participle | wanderlusted |
| past | wanderlusted |
Origin of wanderlust
Borrowed from German Wanderlust (“an urge to travel; a love of the ‘great outdoors’”), from wandern (“to wander; to hike”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn; to wind”)) + Lust (“a desire, a wish to do or have something; fun, pleasure”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewH- (“to separate; to set free; to untie”)); analysable as wander + lust.
Words formed from wanderlust
Questions about wanderlust
- What does wanderlust mean?
- Wanderlust means a strong impulse or longing to travel.
- How do you use wanderlust in a sentence?
- They were deliriously happy for a few years, but always her soul felt the call of wanderlust.
- What part of speech is wanderlust?
- Wanderlust can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce wanderlust?
- Wanderlust is pronounced /ˈwɒndəlʌst/ (UK).
- What is the plural of wanderlust?
- The plural of wanderlust is wanderlusts.
Words near wanderlust in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: wanderlust (page history and authors); Wanderlust (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wanderlust.wav.
Cite this entry: “wanderlust.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/wanderlust. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.