Peripatetic
adjective /ˌpɛrɪpəˈtɛtɪk/ — Travelling from place to place, especially for work.
Definition
Travelling from place to place, especially while working; itinerant; in philosophy, relating to Aristotle's school of philosophy, derived from his habit of walking while teaching.
Beyond the definition
The peripatetic life is the life in transit — the consultant who lives in hotel rooms, the diplomat who changes cities every three years. There is a freedom in it and a cost — the freedom of perpetual beginnings, the cost of never quite finishing.
Origin & history
From Greek peripatetikos (given to walking about while teaching), from peripatein (to walk about), from peri- (around) + patein (to walk). The Peripatetics were Aristotle's followers, so named because he walked while teaching.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
Her peripatetic career had taken her to four continents by the time she was forty.
He was a peripatetic consultant, working for three days in each city before moving to the next.
The peripatetic life had given her wide knowledge and narrow rootedness.
Synonyms
Antonyms
settled, sedentary, stationary
Related words
Peripatetic vs itinerant
Peripatetic describes a lifestyle or movement pattern that is essentially nomadic or wandering. Itinerant specifically links this travel to moving from place to place for the purpose of work.
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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
Traveler by a campfire
An adult traveler sits by a campfire in a vast, open desert at night, with simple belongings packed nearby.
The traveler's simple, temporary camp and their readiness to move capture a peripatetic life. It illustrates an existence built on constant change and movement, where home is not a place, but the act of travelling through the world.
Image credit: Wordspun · AI-generated conceptual illustration