itinerant

Pluralitinerants

1. 1
   wandereradjective

   Habitually traveling from place to place rather than staying in one.

   An itinerant preacher held services in a different town each Sunday.

   Many of the farm's workers were itinerant laborers who followed the harvest north.

   UsageUsually before a noun, often naming someone who travels for work: an itinerant preacher, itinerant workers.

   Similartraveling, wandering, roving, nomadic, migrant

   Oppositesettled, resident, sedentary

   Note

   The word goes back to Late Latin itineror, "to travel", and is a cousin of itinerary, the plan of a journey. William Blackstone uses it of the king's courts in his Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769), courts that moved with the royal household. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • Itinerant derives ultimately from Late Latin itineror, meaning to travel. en.wiktionary.org
   • Itinerant and itinerary share a Latin root. en.wiktionary.org
   • An itinerary can mean the plan of a journey. en.wiktionary.org
   • William Blackstone wrote Commentaries on the Laws of England, first published during 1765–1769. gutenberg.org
   • Blackstone describes the king's courts as itinerant because they moved with his household. avalon.law.yale.edu
2. 2
   wanderernouncountable

   Someone who travels around, moving on from one place to the next.

   He lived as an itinerant for years, working wherever he could find a job.

   The shelter offered beds to itinerants passing through town.

   Similarwanderer, drifter, nomad, traveler

3. 3
   Irish TravelernounoffensivedatedIrelandcountable

   A member of the Irish Traveler community, whether the person still travels or has settled in one place.

   Government reports in the 1960s described the Travelers living by Irish roadsides as itinerants.

   Her grandmother remembered being called an itinerant by officials long after the family settled in Galway.

   UsageHurtful to many today; the community prefers Traveller (also spelled Traveler).

   SimilarTraveller

   Note

   In Ireland the word once served as an official label for Irish Travelers, popularized by the 1963 Commission on Itinerancy report. That identity does not depend on traveling: a family settled in one town for decades is still part of the Travelling Community. The name the community prefers in English is Traveler (Pavee or Mincéirí in their own language), which says in plain English what itinerant says through its Latin root. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • The 1963 Commission on Itinerancy report applied the label to Travellers but explicitly defined it by lack of a fixed abode and habitual wandering. Its definition did depend on a way of life. en.wikipedia.org
   • Settling permanently does not end membership of the Traveller community. carnegiecouncil.org
   • The community prefers the English name Traveller. itmtrav.ie
   • Pavee and Mincéirí are names used in the community's own language. en.wikipedia.org
   • The Latin root behind itinerant conveys travelling. en.wiktionary.org

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