# drift

> English word · Noun · IPA /dɹɪft/ · frequency rank #9,323

## Definitions
1. Movement; that which moves or is moved.
2. Movement; that which moves or is moved.
3. Movement; that which moves or is moved.
4. Movement; that which moves or is moved.
5. Movement; that which moves or is moved.
6. Movement; that which moves or is moved.
7. Movement; that which moves or is moved.
8. Movement; that which moves or is moved.
9. Movement; that which moves or is moved.
10. The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.
11. A place (a ford) along a river where the water is shallow enough to permit crossing to the opposite side.
12. The tendency of an act, argument, course of conduct, or the like; object aimed at or intended; intention; hence, also, import or meaning of a sentence or discourse; aim.
13. The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments.
14. A tool.
15. A tool.
16. A tool.
17. A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to obloid projectiles.
18. Minor deviation of audio or video playback from its correct speed.
19. The situation where a performer gradually and unintentionally moves from their proper location within the scene.
20. A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery.
21. An adit or tunnel driven forward for purposes of exploration or exploitation; generally eventually to a dead end.
22. A sloping winze or road to the surface, for purposes of haulage.
23. In a coal mine, a heading driven for exploration or ventilation.
24. Of a boring or a driven tunnel: deviation from the intended course.
25. A heading driven through a seam of coal.
26. Movement.
27. Movement.
28. Movement.
29. Movement.
30. Movement.
31. A sideways movement of the ball through the air, when bowled by a spin bowler.
32. Slow, cumulative change.
33. In the New Forest National Park, UK, the bi-annual round-up of wild ponies in order to sell them.

## Etymology
From Middle English drift, dryft (“act of driving, drove, shower of rain or snow, impulse”), from Old English *drift (“drift”), from Proto-Germanic *driftiz (“drift”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Equivalent to drive + -t; cognate with North Frisian drift (“drift”), Saterland Frisian Drift (“current, flow, stream, drift”), Dutch drift (“drift, passion, urge”), German Drift (“drift”) and Trift (“drove, pasture”), Danish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Swedish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Icelandic drift (“drift, snow-drift”).

## Easily confused with
- **drip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drift-vs-drip)
- **drive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drift-vs-drive)
- **drink** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drift-vs-drink)
- **drill** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drift-vs-drill)
- **drifts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drift-vs-drifts)
- **drifted** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drift-vs-drifted)
- **drifter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drift-vs-drifter)
- **dit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dit-vs-drift)
- **dif** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dif-vs-drift)
- **DRI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dri-vs-drift)
- **diet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/diet-vs-drift)
- **dirt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dirt-vs-drift)
- **daft** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/daft-vs-drift)
- **diff** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/diff-vs-drift)
- **dist** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dist-vs-drift)
- **deft** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deft-vs-drift)
- **dint** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dint-vs-drift)
- **draft** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/draft-vs-drift)
- **dried** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dried-vs-drift)
- **drier** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/drier-vs-drift)

## Common misspellings (8)
`ddrift`, `dirft`, `drfit`, `drifft`, `driftt`, `dritf`, `drrift`, `rdift`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/drift