Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Traveling from place to place, especially to perform work or a duty.
  • noun One who travels from place to place.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Traveling from place to place; wandering; not settled; strolling; specifically, going from place to place, especially on a circuit, in the discharge of duty: as, an itinerant preacher; an itinerant judge.
  • noun One who travels from place to place; a traveler; a wanderer; specifically, one who travels from place to place, especially on a circuit, in the discharge of duty or the pursuit of business, as an itinerant judge or preacher, or a strolling actor.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Passing or traveling about a country; going or preaching on a circuit; wandering; not settled
  • adjective One who travels from place to place, particularly a preacher; one who is unsettled.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Habitually travelling from place to place.
  • noun One who travels from place to place.
  • noun Ireland a member of the Travelling Community, whether settled or not.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective traveling from place to place to work
  • noun a laborer who moves from place to place as demanded by employment

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin itinerāns, itinerant-, present participle of itinerārī, to travel, from Latin iter, itiner-, journey; see ei- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From itinerāns, present active participle of itineror ("I travel").

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Examples

Comments

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  • It's just occurred to me that this probably shares a root with "itinerary."

    December 5, 2006

  • Early Methodist preachers

    July 28, 2009

  • traveling from place to place to work

    Doctors used to be itinerant, traveling between patients' homes.

    October 19, 2016