Word.ws English Dictionary

about

/əˈbɐʊ̯t//əˈbaʊ̯t/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

about preposition: in a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of; around.

Preposition

about

  1. In a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of; around.
    • The snake was coiled about his ankle.
    • So look about you; know you any here?c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. Over or upon different parts of; through or over in various directions; here and there in; to and fro in; throughout.
    • Rubbish was strewn about the place.
    • The children were running about the room.
  3. See about to.
  4. (dialectal, obsolete) On the point or verge of.
    • [It] was held, that the latter requirement was fulfilled by an affidavit declaring that "the defendant was about leaving the State permanently."1866, Charles Daniel Drake, A treatise on the law of suits by attachment in the United States, page 80
  5. Concerning; with regard to; on account of; on the subject of.
    • He talked a lot about his childhood.
    • We must do something about this problem.
    Synonyms:
    apropos, as for
  6. Concerned or occupied with; engaged in; intent on.
    • just going about their business
    • Have you much hay about?
  7. Within or in the immediate neighborhood of; in contiguity or proximity to; near, as to place.
    • I can’t find my reading glasses, but they must be somewhere about the house.
    • John’s in the garden, probably somewhere about the woodshed.
  8. On one’s person; nearby the person.
    • I had no weapon about me but a stick.
    • The policy covers all belongings and other personal things that somebody can carry about them.
  9. (figuratively) On or near (one's person); attached as an attribute to; in the makeup of, or at the command of.
    • He has his wits about him.
    • There was an air of confidence about the woman.

Adverb

about (not comparable)

  1. On all sides, or in every or any direction from a point; around.
    • I looked about at the scenery that surrounded me.
    • Why, then, I see, ’tis time to look about, / When every boy Alphonsus dares control.1599, Robert Greene, The Comical History of Alphonsus King of Aragon, III-ii
  2. Here and there; around; in one place and another; up and down.
    • Bits of old machinery were lying about.
    • ... the tocsins of immemorial strife were sounding all about, the fierce old bell pealing out its periodical summons from the airy heights of the Palazzo Vecchio, and armed men, fierce and furious, swarming about the streets.1876, Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant, The Makers of Florence: Dante, Giotto, Savonarola; and Their City ... With Portrait of Savonarola ... and Illustrations from Drawings by Professor Delamotte
  3. From one place or position to another in succession; indicating repeated movement or activity.
    • walking about; rushing about; jumping about; thrashing about
    • And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, 1 Timothy, v,13
  4. Indicating unproductive or unstructured activity.
    • messing about; fooling about; loafing about
  5. Nearly; approximately; with close correspondence in quality, manner, degree, quantity, or time; almost.
    • It’s about as cold as it was last winter.
    • He owes me about three hundred dollars.
  6. Near; in the vicinity.
    • I looked round at the people standing about, and observed them curiously in their peculiar relation to it all.1879, Scribner's Monthly, an Illustrated Magazine for the People, page 212
  7. To a reversed order, direction, or condition; half round; in (or to, or from) the opposite direction.
    • to face about; to turn oneself about
    • Mr. Carter, whose back had been turned, turned about and faced his niece.1888, Horatio Alger, The Errand Boy
    1. To the opposite tack: see go about.
      • We went about and headed offshore.
      • Before he goeth about, he will shoot off a piece; and, being about, will put forth another light, upon the poop […]1809, The Harleian Miscellany: a collection of scarce, curious, and entertaining pamphlets and tracts ... found in the late Earl of Oxford's library. Interspersed with historical, political, and...
  8. (obsolete, rare) In succession, one after another.
    • When he had finished, he drew his plaid around his head, and went slowly down to the little dell, where he used every day to offer up his morning and evening prayers, and where we have often sat together on Sabbath afternoons, reading verse about with our children in the Bible.1818, James Hogg, published in The Scots Magazine, Vol. 86, p. 218, "On the Life and Writings of James Hogg" https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=W-5HAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA128&dq=%22reading+verse+about+with+ou...
  9. (obsolete, rare) In rotation or revolution.
    • What an Arme he has, he turn'd me about with his finger and his thumbe, as one would set up a Top.1908 [c. 1606], William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Coriolanus, Oppidan Library, page 96
    • Prithee, do not turn me about; my stomach is not constant.1897 [c. 1610], William Shakespeare, The Tempest, ed. by F.S. Boas, page 27
  10. (obsolete, possibly, outside set phrases) In the course of events.
    • to bring about, to come about
  11. (archaic) In circuit or circumference; circularly.
    • The island was a mile about, and a third of a mile across.
    • Indeede I am in the waste two yards about.c. 1597-1602, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor
  12. (archaic) By a circuitous way; circuitously.
    • God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea.1790, The Christian's Complete Family Bible: Containin the Whole of the Sacred Text of the Old and New Testaments, with the Apocrypha at Large

Adjective

about (not comparable)

  1. Moving around or in motion; astir.
    • out and about; up and about
    • After my bout with Guillan-Barre Syndrome, it took me 6 months to be up and about again.
    Synonyms:
    around, active, mobile, astir
  2. In existence; being in evidence; apparent.
    • This idea has been about for a while but has only recently become fashionable.
    • To my mind, transportation engineering is similar to flying in the 1930s — it has been about for some time but it has taken the present economic jolt to shake it out of its infancy, in the same way that the war started the development of flying to its current stage.1975, IPC Building & Contract Journals Ltd, Highways & road construction, volume 43
    Synonyms:
    around
  3. Near; in the vicinity or neighbourhood.
    • I had my keys just a minute ago, so they must be about somewhere.
    • Watch out, there's a thief about.

Verb

about (third-person singular simple present abouts, present participle abouting, simple past and past participle abouted)

  1. (uncommon) To change the course of (a ship) to the other tack; to bring (a ship) about.
    • The Channel at Archer's Hope Point lies close by the Shoar, and makes such an Angle there by reason of Hog Island, that going up or down the River, let the Wind be where it will, they must there bring the contrary Tack on Board, and generally when they About the Ship as they call it, they are so...1694, John Martyn (Londres), James Allestry (Londres), Henry Oldenburg, Philosophical Transactions, Giving Some Accompt of the Present Undertakings, Studies and Labors of the Ingenious in Many...
    • Mr. Whalen:] they had "abouted ship." They had changed the course to put her into the wind—1937, United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Amending the Merchant Marine Act of 1936: Hearing Before the Committee on Commerce and the Committee on Education and Labor, United States Senate...
  2. (humorous, possibly, uncommon) To about-face (turn 180 degrees, like a soldier).
    • For quotations using this term, see Citations:about.

about meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

about in Hindi

concerning
के बारे ke bāre
concerned with, engaged in
... के बारे में ... ke bāre mẽ
in the immediate neighborhood of
के बग़ल में ke baġal mẽ, के पास ke pās, के नज़दीक ke nazdīk

about in Tamil

on every side of
சுற்றி cuṟṟi
over or upon different parts of
சுற்றி cuṟṟi
on the point or verge of
விளிம்பில் viḷimpil
concerning
பற்றி paṟṟi, குறித்து kuṟittu

about in Urdu

concerning
بارے میں bāre mẽ, متعلق mutāliq, بابت bābat, در بارہ dar-bāra, باب میں bāb mẽ, در باب dar-bāb
concerned with, engaged in
... کے بارے میں ... ke bāre mẽ

about in Bengali

concerning
সম্বন্ধে śombondhe, নিয়ে niẏe
More languagesFewer languages
about in Malayalam
കുറിച്ച് kuṟiccŭ, പറ്റി paṟṟi, ഏതാണ്ട് ētāṇṭŭ
about in Tagalog
tungkol sa
about in Arabic
حَوْلَ ḥawla, عَن ʕan, عَلَى وَشَكِ ʕalā wašaki, حَوَالِي ḥawālī
about in Malay
tentang, mengenai, berkaitan dengan, berkenaan dengan
about in Indonesian
sekitar, sekeliling, tentang, hampir
about in Persian
پیرامون, دربارهٔ darbâre-ye, راجع به râje' be, در مورد dar mored-e
about in Thai
เรื่อง rʉ̂ʉang, เกี่ยวกับ gìao-gàp
about in Vietnamese
sắp, về, khoảng, chừng

Examples of about in a sentence

  • He was well known about town.
  • He is very mad about all the pranks.
  • “What’s Mary doin'?” “Oh! oo’s about th’ butter.”
  • Dinner’s about ready.
  • I was so scared, I about fainted.
  • I’ll see you at about 4 o'clock; I'll see you about a year from now.

All 40 example sentences with about

Synonyms of about

25 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of about

Forms of about

Preposition
alternative Northumbriaaboot
alternative formabowt
alternative forma.
alternative formab.
alternative formabt.
Verb
third-person singular presentabouts
present participleabouting
past participleabouted
pastabouted

Origin of about

Preposition and adverb from Middle English aboute, abouten, from Old English abūtan, onbūtan, from on (“in, on”) + būtan (“outside of”) (compare modern English but, bout), itself from be (“by”) + ūtan (“outside”); equivalent to on + be + out or on + but. Cognate with Old Frisian abûta (“outside; except”). Not related to bout (“period of time”) Adjective from Middle English about (adverb).

Words formed from about

Phrases with about

151 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with about

42 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about about

What does about mean?
About means in a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of; around.
What is about in Hindi?
About in Hindi is के बारे (ke bāre), ... के बारे में (... ke bāre mẽ), के बग़ल में (ke baġal mẽ). See About meaning in Hindi.
How do you use about in a sentence?
He was well known about town.
What part of speech is about?
About can be a preposition, an adverb, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce about?
About is pronounced /əˈbaʊ̯t/ (UK).

Words near about in the dictionary

  1. aboundings
  2. abounds
  3. abounds in
  4. abounds in one's own sense
  5. abounds with
  6. about
  7. About box
  8. About boxes
  9. about east
  10. about face
  11. about faced

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: about (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-about.wav, en-us-about (improved).ogg, en-ca-about-real.ogg.

Cite this entry: “about.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/about. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.