Moving or acting without a clear purpose or destination; wandering without a specific goal in mind.
From 'aim' (from Old French 'esmer') plus the suffix '-less' (lacking) plus '-ly' (forming adverbs). The word literally means 'without aim' and developed in English around the 1600s.
The '-less' suffix is super productive in English—we use it to mean 'without' and create new words all the time (homeless, helpless, clueless). This shows how English speakers intuitively understand word parts and can combine them to express new ideas.
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