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Definition of about
1a : reasonably close to about a year agob : almost about starved just about finishedc : on the verge of —usually used with be and a following infinitive is about to join the army —used with a negative to express intention or determination not about to quit
2 : on all sides : around looked about for a place to park
3a : in rotation They go about in circles.b : around the outside
4 : in many different directions : here and there walked about for hours
5 : in the vicinity : near He spoke to the people standing about.
6 : in the opposite direction face about the other way about
Examples of about in a Sentence
We're about ready to go.
This one is about as bad as that one.
That's about all I know at this point.
It's about time to go.
That's about all the time we have.
We tried just about everything we could think of.
about
Definition of about
1 : in a circle around : on every side of : around People gathered about him.
2a : in the immediate neighborhood of : near Fish are abundant about the reefs.b : on or near the person of had a pleasing fragrance about herc : in the makeup of a mature wisdom about himd : at the command of has his wits about him
3 : engaged in … act as if they know what they're about … — T. S. Matthews
4a : with regard to : concerning spoke about his pastb : concerned withc : fundamentally concerned with or directed toward … poker is about money. — David Mamet
5 : over or in different parts of He traveled about the country.
Examples of about in a Sentence
a poignant story about a young man who goes off to war
about the hedge there was a picket fence
Origin and Etymology of about
Middle English, going back to Old English abūtan, derivative of abūtan 1about
about
Definition of about
1 : moving from place to place; specifically : being out of bed is up and about by 7 a.m.
2 : around 2 There is a scarcity of jobs about.
Recent Examples of about from the Web
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And just days before the attack itself, a neurology registrar based in London gave an eerily prophetic warning of what was about to happen.
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The second man was about 28 years old with brown eyes and brown hair and a beard.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'about'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of about
Middle English, derivative of about 1about
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See words that rhyme with about Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for about Spanish Central: Translation of about Nglish: Translation of about for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of about for Arabic speakers
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