as in to roam
to move about from place to place aimlessly
we knocked about from town to town, looking for work
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in rollicking
being rough or noisy in a high-spirited way
a knockabout game of football in the mud
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in nomad
a person who roams about without a fixed route or destination
the book is one writer's journey of self-discovery as a restless knockabout
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of knock (about)
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times, 19 Jan. 2017
Caryn James, HollywoodReporter, 30 Aug. 2025
Adjective
Though thematically vague, thinly plotted and without a reliably sympathetic soul to cling to, the movie has a mutinous energy and an absurd, knockabout charm; even its violence is more quirky than brutal.
—Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times, 19 Jan. 2017
Noun
This new film is a very black comedy that is also a heist story with some bloody violence, along with a bit of knockabout slapstick and a theme of family bonds.
—Caryn James, HollywoodReporter, 30 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for knock (about)
Verb
-
My father roamed from the Beverly Hills Hilton to Chateau Marmont, arguing the case for his best Chardonnays.—
Maddie Connors,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Apr. 2026
-
The neighborhood Situated at 6,300 feet on a mountain summit, above forests where Himalayan bears and wild boar like to roam and where the lammergeyers soar, feels like the rooftop of the world.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
23 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Murphy then appeared on stage to a rollicking standing ovation and made his way to his place at the dais toward the back of the room.—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
19 Apr. 2026
-
Those self-aware lyrics are paired with breezy melody and a gently rollicking rhythm, making this feel like a freewheeling summertime favorite.—
Jessica Nicholson,
Billboard,
24 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Most have a traditional nomad tent pitched up in their private backyard, which, with a wood stove and comfy couch, makes for a cozy lounge area.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
25 Apr. 2026
-
Under the Zagros Mountains outside Shiraz, a family of Iranian nomads and their reticent sons investigate the disappearance of twelve sheep while navigating their flock through the modern city of poets in this dreamy documentary.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
16 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The back parking lot, once a nasty no man’s land where drunken customers wandered off to urinate, has recently been transformed into a performance space that has hosted small gigs including Duane Betts.—
Jimmy Jellinek,
SPIN,
27 Apr. 2026
-
But, as Chen and Shrivastava wandered a Texas restaurant conference, a Dallas heating and air company called Rescue Air found them.—
Allie Garfinkle,
Fortune,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
In the corner of the yard, the rooster is crowing away in boisterous voice.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Apr. 2026
-
That lineage comes through in their ungovernable guitar noodling, inspired by underground icons NRBQ and Bottle Rockets, and a boisterous energy befitting of drunken basement shows.—
Nina Corcoran,
Pitchfork,
22 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The icy wanderer has now entered the field of view of the sun-facing Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) instrument mounted on the joint ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft (SOHO), offering us a unique way to follow the comet's journey.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
24 Apr. 2026
-
On stage, Josh and Melissa, our wanderers from the land of reality, are subsumed into an actual musical rather than a vaguely Truman Show-style refraction.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
20 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The Ferrari Purosangue Handling Speciale follows improvements already made among the competition, such as Aston Martin’s 717 hp DBX S and Bentley’s latest Bentayga Speed—the latter now capable of drifting.—
Viju Mathew,
Robb Report,
29 Apr. 2026
-
In this haunting and visually inventive documentary, a spectral voice drifts through time and memory to trace the Maidan revolution and the roots of resistance in Ukraine.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
29 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
This lively street—lined with elegant colonial homes and cozy cafes and restaurants—culminates at the iconic Ex-Convento de San Bernardino de Siena, known for its nightly video-mapping shows projected in Spanish and in English.—
Regina Zumarraga,
Travel + Leisure,
27 Apr. 2026
-
The suit included some versions of Indiana’s trademark work, LOVE, which depicts the word love in lively serif characters, the LO situated atop the VE, with the O placed at an angle.—
Brian Boucher,
ARTnews.com,
27 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Knock (about).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/knock%20%28about%29. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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