DRIFT

Meaning

(physical) Movement; that which moves or is moved.

• verbTo move slowly, especially pushed by currents of water, air, etc.

DRIFT as a word-puzzle answer

DRIFT is a 5-letter word with 1 vowel (I) and 4 consonants (D, R, F, T). Every letter is distinct, so it rarely punishes a clean opening guess.

It leans on high-frequency letters (R, I, T), so a strong vowel-and-common-consonant opener tends to light up quickly. There are no rare letters here, so it is a fair, mid-difficulty answer for the daily Classic puzzle.