maunder, meander

maunder, meander
Maunder means "to talk in a meaningless, rambling, foolish way": "The speaker maundered on and on for what seemed hours." Meander means "to ramble," "to wander aimlessly," "to go by an indirect course": "The stream meandered down the mountainside." It is true, however, that one can meander in speech as well as in movement, so that a speaker can be said to meander or maunder. If the wandering in speech is clever or brilliant, call it meandering; if it is dull and pointless, call it maundering.

Dictionary of problem words and expressions. . 1975.

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  • meander — See maunder. See maunder, meander …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • maunder — See maunder, meander …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • maunder — [môn′dər] vi. [Early ModE mander, to grumble, growl, prob. freq. of obs. maund, to beg: sense prob. infl. by MEANDER] 1. to move or act in a dreamy, vague, aimless way 2. to talk in an incoherent, rambling way; drivel maunderer n …   English World dictionary

  • meander — {{11}}meander (n.) 1570s, confusion, intricacies, from L. meander a winding course, from Gk. Maiandros, name of a river in Caria noted for its winding course (the Greeks used the name figuratively for winding patterns). In reference to river… …   Etymology dictionary

  • meander — verb 1) the river meandered gently Syn: zigzag, wind, twist, turn, curve, curl, bend, snake 2) we meandered along the path Syn: stroll, saunter, amble, wander …   Thesaurus of popular words

  • maunder — v 1. gibber, blather, ramble on, chatter, babble, prattle, gabble; mumble, stammer, hem and haw; run off at the mouth, run on, rattle on, twaddle. 2. wander, meander, ramble, traipse; straggle, Sl. schlepp, stray, mosey, shuffle, saunter; stumble …   A Note on the Style of the synonym finder

  • ramble — [n] aimless walk constitutional, excursion, hike, perambulation, peregrination, roaming, roving, saunter, stroll, tour, traipse, trip, turn; concepts 151,224 ramble [v1] wander about; travel aimlessly amble, bat around*, be all over the map*,… …   New thesaurus

  • deviate from the truth — I verb alter one s course, deceive, depart from a norm, digress, diverge, drift, fabricate, fake, go astray, lie, maunder, meander, mislead, misrepresent, misstate, prevaricate, skew, stray, struggle, swerve, take a different course, wander II… …   Law dictionary

  • deviating from the norm — I verb alter one s course, depart from a norm, digress, diverge, drift, go astray, maunder, meander, skew, slew, straggle, stray, swerve, take a different course, wander II index irregular (not usual) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton.… …   Law dictionary

  • drift — Synonyms and related words: Brownian movement, Zeitgeist, aberrancy, aberration, accumulation, advance, aeroplane, affective meaning, affluence, afflux, affluxion, aim, airlift, airplane, alluvion, alluvium, amble, angular motion, anthill, army,… …   Moby Thesaurus

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