nomad

/ˌnoʊˈmæd/

/ˈnʌʊmæd/

Other forms: nomads

A nomad is someone with no permanent home, like the member of a tribe that moves from place to place in search of food, or the rock star who spends 365 days a year in tour buses and hotel rooms.

The word nomad has traditionally meant a member of a tribe of people who roamed from place to place in search of animals and shelter. Nomadic tribes wandered out of necessity. Wherever the food went, they went. In its more modern sense, a nomad is someone who would rather wander from place to place than set down roots, like the nomad who crashes at his friends' apartments in various cities instead of renting his own place.

Definitions of nomad

1. noun

   a member of a people who have no permanent home but move about according to the seasons
   types:

   Bedouin, Beduin

   a member of a nomadic tribe of Arabs

   Bushman

   a member of the race of nomadic hunters and gatherers who live in southern Africa

   Hun

   a member of a nomadic people who invaded Europe in the 4th century

   Saracen

   (historically) a member of the nomadic people of the Syrian and Arabian deserts at the time of the Roman Empire

   Scythian

   a member of the ancient nomadic people inhabiting Scythia

   type of:

   bird of passage, roamer, rover, wanderer

   someone who leads a wandering unsettled life