Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use about in a sentence

40 example sentences · preposition, adverb, adjective

About means in a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of; around. Example: “The snake was coiled about his ankle.”

Examples of about by meaning

prepositionIn a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of; around.

  • The snake was coiled about his ankle.
  • She looked about her.1905, The Delineator, page 258
  • As soon as church was out a group of people gathered about her, all curious to hear how she was getting on with the boy.2016 August 24 [????], Johanna Spyri, Moni the Goat Boy and Other Stories: Moni the Goahout a Friend; The Little Runaway, anboco, →ISBN

prepositionOver 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.
  • He was well known about town.

prepositionConcerning; with regard to; on account of; on the subject of.

  • He talked a lot about his childhood.
  • We must do something about this problem.
  • He is very mad about all the pranks.

prepositionConcerned or occupied with; engaged in; intent on.

  • just going about their business
  • Have you much hay about?
  • “What’s Mary doin'?” “Oh! oo’s about th’ butter.”

prepositionWithin 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.

prepositionOn 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.

prepositionOn 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.
  • And there is a mature wisdom about him which, without being new, is newly refreshed.1953, Oliver Wendell Holmes (Jr.), Holmes-Laski Letters: 1926-1935

adverbOn all sides, or in every or any direction from a point; around.

  • I looked about at the scenery that surrounded me.

More sentences with about

  • There had been words between him and the secretary about the outcome of the meeting.From the entry word
  • He was frustrated because he couldn't find anything about dinosaurs in the book.From the entry book
  • He’s been crowing all day about winning the game of cards.From the entry crow
  • I like to stay informed about current events by reading the newspaper daily.From the entry current events
  • One visitor named Hou Yugang said he was not too concerned about climate change and Baishui’s melting.From the entry name
  • I don’t know all the theoretical abracadabra about how it works, I’m only its pilot.From the entry abracadabra
  • It looks weaker and weaker, the more I think about it.From the entry the
  • I can't accept nothing being done about the problem and your standing idly by.From the entry accept
  • Did you hear what she said about my outfit? She kind of clocked me.From the entry clock
  • His bit about video games was not nearly as entertaining as the other segments of his show.From the entry bit
  • They met a couple of years ago, but have been dating for about five months.From the entry date
  • What's so big about that? I do it all the time.From the entry big
  • Another unsolicited maths take: talking about quotients in terms of "equivalence classes" or cosets is really unnatural.From the entry take
  • Only about a hundred years ago, wireless was a new technology.From the entry wireless
  • Both science-fiction writers and physicists have written about travel through time.From the entry time
  • The politician gave a somewhat abstract answer when asked about their plans to cut spending.From the entry abstract
  • To find more about her, check out her bio on Instagram.From the entry bio
  • He was about to take a drink from his root beer.From the entry drink
  • Too busy thinking about my baby, and I ain't got time for nothing else.From the entry baby
  • You need to talk to John about that – it's his baby.From the entry baby

Meaning of about

  1. preposition In a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of; around.
  2. preposition Over or upon different parts of; through or over in various directions; here and there in; to and fro in; throughout.
  3. preposition See about to.

Full definition of about

Questions about about in a sentence

How do you use about in a sentence?
About is used as a preposition, adverb and adjective. For example: “The snake was coiled about his ankle.”
What is a short sentence with about?
“She looked about her.”
What does about mean?
About means in a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of; around.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: about (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use about in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/about. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.