Peripatetic

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Grammarist

Peripatetic is a word that many find confusing. We will examine the definition of peripatetic, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.

Peripatetic means itinerant, traveling from place to place, never staying somewhere very long. Someone who is peripatetic works in many places for short periods of time. For instance, many people who work in the military are peripatetic. Aristotle founded the Peripatetic school of philosophy in Ancient Greece. The word peripatetic is taken from the Greek word peripatētikós which means tends to walk around. The idea is derived from Aristotle’s habit of teaching while he walked through the Lyceum in Athens. Peripatetic is usually used as an adjective, though it may be used as a noun to describe the students of Aristotle, or to describe someone who works by traveling from place to place. The adverb form is peripatetically.

Examples

The question isn’t why so many eagerly embrace the peripatetic former presidential hopeful, who grew up in Michigan and made his public life in Massachusetts. (The Los Angeles Times)

Prior to its creation, the GPO had lived a peripatetic existence, moving from Fishamble Street in Dublin to Sycamore Alley and a house opposite the Bank of Ireland in College Green, before finding its permanent home in what was then Sackville Street. (The Irish Times)

That show, a retrospective of work by the peripatetic Japanese answer to Andy Warhol, became the museum’s most popular ever, nudging past 2014’s “David Bowie Is” in its final weeks. (The Chicago Tribune)

Having learned to love herself again, Pitman seems content with her peripatetic, globe-trotting existence, even if the English winter is not always to her liking. (The Guardian)