- 1任性的、不受管教的、脾氣難捉摸的（多形容不聽話的孩子，語氣帶點惋惜而非厭惡）；也可形容球、髮絲等「不聽使喚、亂跑的」。
Behaving badly and not doing what you are told — but with a particular flavour. A wayward person is not evil; they simply will not be steered. The word is used most often about young people who worry the adults around them: a wayward son, a wayward student, a wayward teenager who keeps disappearing at night. There is usually a hint of sadness or affection in it, as if the speaker still hopes the person will come back to the right road. That is why churches and schools use it — 'a wayward child' sounds much gentler than 'a bad child'. It also stretches to things that will not behave: a wayward strand of hair that keeps falling in your eyes, a wayward ball, a wayward shot in football that flies nowhere near the goal. Here it just means 'going where it should not, in a way nobody planned'. And it can describe a mind or a life that keeps wandering off — 'his wayward career', 'her wayward imagination' — where the tone can even be . The register is a little literary; in casual speech people say 'difficult' or 'out of control'.
組成This one is a nice surprise: it is a shortening of away + -ward（朝…方向）. So it originally meant 'turned away' — facing off in the wrong direction. The -ward part is the same one in toward, backward, and homeward.
原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
waywardadj/ˈweɪwə(ɹ)d/
- 1
Given to a wilful, perverse deviation from the expected norm; tending to stray.
- He is a brilliant fellow when he chooses to work—one of the brightest intellects of the University, but he is wayward, dissipated, and unprincipled.
- Fancies are like shadows . . . you can’t cage them, they’re such wayward, dancing things.
- 2
Obstinate, contrary and unpredictable.
- 3
hobbieslifestylesportsNot on target.
- Bulgaria's only attacking weapon was the wayward shooting of Martin Petrov, whereas England's attacking options were awash with movement in the shape of Rooney, Young and Walcott.
waywardnoun/ˈweɪwə(ɹ)d/
- 1
datedSomeone, especially a young woman or girl, who is wayward.
- the wild, half-starved youth whom we style incorrigibles, delinquents, and waywards
- The girls classed as first offenders and waywards gave a higher intelligence quotient than the others.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。