peripatetic

• peripatetick (obsolete)
• Peripatetic (Aristotelian)

From French péripatétique, from Latin peripatēticus, from Ancient Greek περιπατητικός (peripatētikós, “given to walking around”), from περιπατέω (peripatéō, “I walk around”), from περί (perí, “around”) (English peri-)+ πατέω (patéō, “I walk”).

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˌpɛɹ.ɪ.pəˈtɛt.ɪk/, /ˌpɛɹ.ə.pəˈtɛt.ɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛtɪk

peripatetic (comparative more peripatetic, superlative most peripatetic)

1. Tending to walk about.
2. Constantly travelling.

   Synonyms: itinerant, nomadic

   • 2014 March 9, Elizabeth Day, “Is the LRB the best magazine in the world?”, in The Observer‎^[1]:

     After peripatetic upbringing that took her from America to Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium and England, [Mary-Kay] Wilmers read French and Russian at Oxford.

3. (philosophy, usually capitalized) Alternative letter-case form of Peripatetic.
   • 1642, James Howell, Instructions For Foreign Travel:

     The true peripatetic school.

   • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 75:

     Demetreius of Phalerum, a peripatetic philosopher of the fourth century B.C., wrote an amatory treatise entitled Eroticus - no longer, however, extant.

peripatetic (plural peripatetics)

1. One who walks about; a pedestrian; an itinerant.

   Synonyms: wayfarer, itinerant, pedestrian, nomad

2. (philosophy, usually capitalized) Alternative letter-case form of Peripatetic (“Aristotelian”).
   • 1961, Albert Upton, Design for Thinking: A First Book in Semantics, section 11:

     He who would think clearly must think like a peripatetic even if he is unwilling to walk like one.

• precipitate

Borrowed from French péripatétique.

peripatetic m or n (feminine singular peripatetică, masculine plural peripatetici, feminine and neuter plural peripatetice)

1. peripatetic