wayward

comparative more wayward · superlative most wayward

1. Given to a wilful, perverse deviation from the expected norm; tending to stray.

   Fancies are like shadows . . . you can’t cage them, they’re such wayward, dancing things.

   1909 September, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “The Pointing of Duty”, in Anne of Avonlea, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, →OCLC, page 66

   2 more examples

   He is a brilliant fellow when he chooses to work—one of the brightest intellects of the University, but he is wayward, dissipated, and unprincipled.

   1904 June, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Three Students”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC

   The Ig Nobel awards are arguably the highlight of the scientific calendar. The prizes, which are the wayward son of the more righteous Nobels, are supposed to reward research that makes people laugh, then think.

   2004 October 1, Helen Pilcher, “Laughter in the lab”, in Nature, →DOI

2. Obstinate, contrary and unpredictable.

   Synonyms: adamant, ardent, grim, untiring, bent on, bloody-minded, bullheaded, certain

3. hobbiesNot on target.

   Bulgaria's only attacking weapon was the wayward shooting of Martin Petrov, whereas England's attacking options were awash with movement in the shape of Rooney, Young and Walcott.

   2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC

plural waywards

1. datedSomeone, especially a young woman or girl, who is wayward.

   the wild, half-starved youth whom we style incorrigibles, delinquents, and waywards

   1908 September 3, “The Real Lindsey”, in Journal of Education

   3 more examples

   The girls classed as first offenders and waywards gave a higher intelligence quotient than the others.

   1928, Leizer Grimberg, Emotion and Delinquency: A Clinical Study of Five Hundred Criminals in the Making

   What is "Christian rock?" It has been called everything from Jesus music to righteous rock to the devil's handiwork (the church can't sit idly by and let some waywards peddle "jungle music" in the name of the Lord without casting a little brimstone).

   2000, John Joseph Thompson, Raised by Wolves: The Story of Christian Rock & Roll

   Disobedience and waywardism laws were pioneered on young women, and could be arrested as a disobedient or wayward at the age of 20.

   2023 March 3, Nathan J. Robinson, quoting Hugh Ryan, “How Queer History Is Buried”, in Current Affairs