/ əˈdrɪft; NAmE / adjective [ not before noun ]
1.
if a boat or a person in a boat is adrift , the boat is not tied to anything or is floating without being controlled by anyone :
The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days.
2.
( BrE ) ( of a person ) feeling alone and without a direction or an aim in life :
young people adrift in the big city
3.
no longer attached or fixed in the right position :
I nearly suffocated when the pipe on my breathing apparatus came adrift .
( figurative )
She had been cut adrift from everything she had known.
( figurative )
Our plans had gone badly adrift.
4.
adrift (of sb/sth) ( BrE ) ( in sport ) behind the score or position of your opponents :
The team are now just six points adrift of the leaders.
•
IDIOMS
- cast / set sb adrift
••
WORD ORIGIN
late 16th cent.: from a- , on, in + drift .