nomad
/ˈnəʊmad
/noun
1A member of a people that travels from place to place to find fresh pasture for its animals and has no permanent home: the withering of their grasslands forced the nomads of the Sahara to descend into the Nile valley the nomads who roam the borderlands of Afghanistan [as modifier]: the Magyars were a nomad people of the steppes...
- The Touareg people are nomads who traveled through the desert.
- These people are the original nomads of North Africa, who were converted to Islam by invading Arab armies eons ago.
- Local nomads reported the animals were sensitive to human presence and could be aggressive.
Synonyms
itinerant, traveller, migrant, wanderer, wayfarer, roamer, rover, gypsy, Bedouin;
transient, drifter, vagabond, vagrant, tramp;
refugee, displaced person, DP, homeless person
dated bird of passage
1.1A person who does not stay long in the same place; a wanderer: Dolly was a nomad who had finally taken root in Hawaii...
- He's a nomad, never staying in one place too long.
- He was, in truth, a nomad, a rootless wanderer, trailing from one country to another and one place to another, varying longer stays with many restless shorter travels, living alone except when visiting or journeying with friends.
- How long will she remain a wanderer, a nomad, with no place to go?
Derivatives
nomadism
/ noun ...- It shows a society that is blatantly discriminatory against Travellers and their culture, and particularly of that part of their culture that relates to nomadism.
- His tent was hung with the paraphernalia of a lifetime's nomadism - water jars, saddles, spears, swords, leather bags and an old rifle.
- As I travelled with the nomads and researched about them I found that nomadism was more than just being on the move.
Origin
Late 16th century: from French nomade, via Latin from Greek nomas, nomad- 'roaming in search of pasture', from the base of nemein 'to pasture'.