straggler
Other forms: stragglers
If you're a straggler, you tend to dawdle at the very back of a group, often becoming separated from them because you're moving so slowly. Stragglers are constantly in danger of missing the bus.
A straggler is the last person to leave a party, lingering to finish their cake and wander around looking for their coat. On a field trip, chaperones worry about losing stragglers who keep wandering away from the group. Straggler and straggle probably share a root with the Norwegian stragla, "walk laboriously." In astronomy, a blue straggler is an unusually luminous star originally believed to have formed later than the other stars in its cluster.
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someone who strays or falls behind
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Vocabulary lists containing straggler
In this novella based on a Mexican folk tale, a poor diver rejoices when he finds an enormous pearl — but the treasure may not be the blessing it seems to be.
In this companion to Wonder, Julian's grandmother tells the story of her life in France during World War II.