ENGLISH
REFERENCE

gad around

phr. v..
C2 Proficiency Oxford British English Informal

phr. v.. to travel from place to place for fun or pleasure, especially when you should be doing something more serious.

phr. v.. to travel or wander restlessly and aimlessly for pleasure or social activity; often carries a pejorative nuance of being irresponsible or frivolous.


SIMPLE

She spends all her weekends gadding around the city.

CONTEXTUAL

Instead of finishing his thesis, he spent the entire summer gadding around Europe with his friends.

COMPLEX

While the rest of the staff worked overtime to meet the deadline, the manager was seen gadding around various networking events and cocktail parties.

Particles
around
Separability
inseparable
Pattern
gad + around (+ object)
Usage

often used with 'about' instead of 'around' in British English; usually implies the subject is wasting time.

Teaching tip

the word 'gad' is an old verb meaning to wander; it is rarely used today outside of this phrasal verb and the related noun 'gadabout'.

Pitfall

He gads around to the shops.He gads around the shops.the phrase is often used with a direct object representing the area or location, so 'to' is unnecessary.

© 2026 English Reference