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Whereabouts Is or whereabouts Are?
Whereabouts may function as an adverb (“Whereabouts is it?”), a conjunction (“I know whereabouts he lives”), or a noun (“Her whereabouts were unknown”). The noun form may provoke confusion because it feels singular but looks plural; should one write “her whereabouts were” or "her whereabouts was”? Because the final -s is an adverbial suffix, not a plural ending (similar to the one at the end of besides), certain usage commentators have insisted on treating whereabouts as a singular noun. In spite of this, you should feel comfortable pairing it with a plural verb; while some have employed singular verbs with this word, the plural (“her whereabouts were”) has become the regular choice.
Examples of whereabouts in a Sentence
Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Sep. 2025
And now his whereabouts became the talk of a fall 2014 walk-through.
—Kansas City Star, 5 Sep. 2025
In 1972, however, the bass was stolen, and its whereabouts remained a mystery until a grassroots campaign, known as the Lost Bass Project, aimed to locate the bass and return it to McCartney.
—Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone, 4 Sep. 2025
Ben Atar's post soon spread, and her claims were shared by users on other social media platforms amid online speculation about the whereabouts and well-being of the president, who at that time had not been seen in public since a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
—Hannah Parry, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for whereabouts
Cite this Entry
“Whereabouts.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whereabouts. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
whereabouts
1 of 2 adverb
whereabouts
2 of 2 plural or singular noun
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