Thereabouts
adv, noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Location; whereabouts. plural, plural-only
"True, he had stopped at Langston Bucket by chance, and there was no reason why Mr. Boke should theorise as to his thereabouts."
- 1 Synonym of thereabout:; About or near that place. not-comparable
"[W]e reſolv'd to put into a ſmall River, which however had a Depth enough of Water for us, and to ſee if we could, either over Land, or by the Ship's Pinnace, come to know what Ships were in any Port thereabouts."
- 2 Synonym of thereabout:; About or around that date or time. not-comparable
"We ſtay'd by it a quarter of an Hour or thereabouts, 'till the Powder in the Eyes, and Mouth, and Ears of the Idol blew up; and we could perceive had ſplit and deform'd the Shape; […]"
- 3 Synonym of thereabout:; About or near to that condition or quality. not-comparable
- 4 Synonym of thereabout:; Approximately that number or quantity. not-comparable
"Fiue or ſix thouſand horſe I ſed, I will ſay true, or thereabouts ſet downe, for Ile ſpeake truth."
- 5 Synonym of thereabout:; About that; concerning that. not-comparable, obsolete
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- 6 Synonym of thereabout:; Near to that activity or situation. figuratively, not-comparable, obsolete
"Cam. [i.e., Canidus.] Our Fortune on the Sea is out of breath, And ſinkes moſt lamentably. Had our Generall Bin what he knew himſelfe, it had gone well: Oh his [i.e., he] ha's giuen example for our flight, Moſt groſſely by his owne. Eno[barbus]. I, are you thereabouts? Why then goodnight indeede."
- 1 near that place wordnet
- 2 near that time or date wordnet
Example
More examples"He went off to the People's Square or somewhere thereabouts."
Etymology
The adverb is derived from Middle English there-aboutes, þare aboutes (“of a place or an object: around there, in its vicinity; of time: about then, around that time”) [and other forms], from ther (“in that place, in those places, there; on that; thither, to that place; from there, thence; at that time; thereupon; in that situation, under those circumstances; in that case, with regard to that”) (from Old English þǣr (“there”)) + aboutes (“in all directions, around”, adverb), aboutes (“in all directions from, on all sides of; near; concerned with”, preposition) (from aboute, abouten (“so as to surround; so as to cover; on the border or edge; as measured around the outside; to as to travel around something; so as to revolve about an axis or centre; aside; in all directions; in the vicinity; in connection with something; in several places; everywhere, throughout; to all or everyone; almost, approximately; concerning; in succession; so as to be or happen”, adverb), aboute, abouten (“surrounding; covering; over; upon; on the border of; in all directions; in the vicinity of, near to; in several places; everywhere, throughout; almost, approximately; concerning; engaged in; on behalf of”, preposition) (from Old English abūtan, onbūtan (“about; round about; on; on the outside”)) + -s (suffix forming adverbs)); see further at thereabout. The English word is analysable as thereabout + -s (suffix forming adverbs). The noun may result from a confusion of thereabouts with whereabouts. The word is attested later than thereabout.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.