different between wander vs prance

English

Etymology

From Middle English wandren, wandrien, from Old English wandrian (“to wander, roam, fly around, hover; change; stray, err”), from Proto-Germanic *wandr?n? (“to wander”), from Proto-Indo-European *wend?- (“to turn, wind”), equivalent to wend +? -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Scots wander (“to wander”), German wandern (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Swedish vandra (“to wander, hike”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?w?nd?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?w?nd?/
• (West Midlands, especially Birmingham) IPA^(key): /?w?nd?/, IPA^(key): /?w?nd?/
• Rhymes: -?nd?(?)
• Hyphenation: wan?der

Verb

wander (third-person singular simple present wanders, present participle wandering, simple past and past participle wandered)

1. (intransitive) To move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood.

   • They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins.

   • “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; […]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

   Synonyms: err, roam

2. (intransitive) To stray; stray from one's course; err.
   • Bible, Psalms cxix.10:

     O, let me not wander from thy commandments.

3. (intransitive) To commit adultery.

   Synonym: cheat

4. (intransitive) To go somewhere indirectly or at varying speeds; to move in a curved path.
5. (intransitive) Of the mind, to lose focus or clarity of argument or attention.

   Synonym: drift

Conjugation

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

wander (countable and uncountable, plural wanders)

1. (countable) The act or instance of wandering.

2. (uncountable) The situation where a value or signal etc. deviates from the correct or normal value.

   Hyponym: polar wander

   baseline wander in ECG signals

Translations

Anagrams

• Andrew, Darwen, Warden, drawne, warden, warned

German

Pronunciation

Verb

wander

1. inflection of wandern:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. singular imperative

English

Etymology

From Middle English prancen, prauncen (“to prance; literally, to show off”), variant of Middle English pranken (“to prank”). Cognate with Bavarian prangezen, prangssen (“to put on airs”), Alemannic German pranzen (“to strut”). More at prank.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /p?æn(t)s/
• Rhymes: -æns
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p???n(t)s/
• Rhymes: -??ns

Verb

prance (third-person singular simple present prances, present participle prancing, simple past and past participle pranced)

1. (of a horse) To spring forward on the hind legs.
2. (colloquial, figuratively) To strut about in a showy manner.

Derived terms

• prancesome
• prancy

Translations

Noun

prance (plural prances)

1. A prancing movement.
   • D. H. Lawrence, The Rainbow

     There seemed a little prance of triumph in his movement,

Anagrams

• parcen