drifted
- 1Simple past and past participle of drift.
The conversation drifted from work to old memories.
By morning, the raft had drifted miles from the shore.
Note
One regular -ed form covers both the past and the participle, but what the participle can do depends on which drift is meant. The movement senses are intransitive, so the participle pairs with have: the raft had drifted. The heaping sense can be transitive, which lets it go passive with be (the snow was drifted against the door) and stand before a noun, as in drifted snow.
By dawn the snow was drifted high against the barn door.
They waded through drifted snow to reach the road.
drifted is a form of drift
drift, verb: To move slowly, especially when pushed along by currents of water, air, or similar forces. Full entry
- Spelling
- drift → drifted: add -ed
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /ɪd/, an extra syllable.
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with drifted, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.