perigrinations
noun

- long, meandering journeys through a number of different places; extensive wanderings, especially when described in retrospect.

- a journey, especially a long and meandering one; travel or wandering from place to place, typically without a fixed destination in mind.

- the act of travelling or roaming through various regions or countries; also used figuratively of the mind or thought ranging widely over many subjects.

Merriam-Webster, Oxford English Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

The word travels a long way to reach us — which is fitting.

The root is the Latin peregrinus, meaning a foreigner or stranger, someone from outside the city walls. This came from per agros — literally "through the fields" — with per (through) and ager (field, land). A peregrinus was someone who moved through the land rather than belonging to it.

From this root came the Late Latin verb peregrinari — to travel abroad, to wander — and the noun peregrinatio, meaning a journey away from home. The word entered English in the 16th century via Old French, initially in a religious context: a peregrination was a pilgrimage, a holy journey to a sacred site.

Over time, the word shed its strictly religious meaning and widened to describe any extended, wandering journey — especially one with a slightly grand or literary flavour. In the plural, peregrinations came to suggest a whole life's worth of travels, or even the roaming of a restless mind.

The same Latin root gives us the peregrine falcon — the bird that ranges across the world — and the name Peregrine itself, still used in English. Tolkien fans will know it as the full name of Pippin in ‘The Lord of the Rings: Peregrin Took’, the hobbit who wanders furthest from home.

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SYNONYMS

a long haul, a long road, adventure, awayday, circuit, circumnavigation, crossing, cruise, epic journey, excursion, exile, expedition, exploration, foray, foreign travel, gallivanting, globe-trotting, grand tour, hike, itinerancy, itineration, jaunt, journey, long march, meander, migration, mission, nomadism, odyssey, on the move, on the road, outing, passage, PEREGRINATIONS, peripatetic travels, pilgrimage, quest, ramble, rambling, roaming, roaming the world, roving, safari, sally, seeing the world, sojourn, sortie, trek, trekking, tramp, travels, trip, vagrancy, voyage, walkabout, wandering(s), wayfaring, wide-ranging travels, world tour

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“If PEREGRINATIONS are your thing, just google ’10 of the best pilgrim routes in Europe: readers’ travel tips’ from The Guardian, and start packing your rucksack.”

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