Errant means wandering off course or straying from where something should be. When a soccer player kicks an errant shot, the ball sails wide of the goal instead of going where they aimed. An errant throw in baseball might fly over the first baseman's head and into the stands.

The word comes from old stories about knights errant, who wandered the countryside seeking adventure rather than staying at their lord's castle. Today we still use it to describe things that go astray. An errant email might accidentally get sent to the wrong person. An errant breeze could blow papers off your desk.

Errant often describes mistakes or accidents rather than deliberate choices. If your dog makes an errant dash toward the street, they're not trying to disobey, they've just gotten distracted by something exciting. The word carries a sense of something that belongs somewhere else, like when an errant basketball bounces into your yard from the neighbor's driveway, or an errant strand of hair falls across your face while you're trying to concentrate.