Peregrination
noun /ˌpɛrɪɡrɪˈneɪʃən/ — A long, winding journey — travel as a way of living.
Definition
A journey, especially a long or meandering one; travelling from place to place, especially on foot or in a wandering manner.
Beyond the definition
More stately than 'journey', more wandering than 'voyage', peregrination suggests a path that doesn't insist on its destination. Medieval pilgrims were peregrini. The word carries the sense of a life spent in motion — purposeful, but not hurried. A peregrination is a journey that has time for detours.
Origin & history
From Latin peregrinatio, from peregrinus 'foreign, travelling abroad'. The same root gives us 'pilgrim' via Old French pelerin, and 'peregrine' (the falcon that migrates far).
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
His peregrination through Central Asia lasted four years and produced a book he never finished.
The memoir traced her peregrination from Lagos to London to Lisbon — not as escape, but as accumulation.
She described her twenties as a peregrination: nowhere long enough to settle, everywhere long enough to learn.
Synonyms
journey, wandering, travels, pilgrimage, odyssey
Antonyms
settlement, stay, homecoming
Related words
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Fictional scene
Wandering a long path
An adult walks alone along a narrow, high mountain ridge path, carrying a simple staff in a vast, open landscape.
The walk is a long, meandering peregrination. The individual travels on foot through the vast, open space, choosing the journey over the destination and finding meaning in the slow, winding act of moving through the world.
Image credit: Wordspun · AI-generated conceptual illustration