thereabout
UK /ðɛəɹəˈbaʊt/ · US /ˈðɛɹəˌbaʊt/ adverb
- adverb About or near that place.
- adverb About or around that date or time. “Dinner will be ready at six-thirty or thereabout.”
- adverb About or near to that condition or quality.
- adverb Approximately that number or quantity. “The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second, right? Yes, thereabout.”
- adverb About that or those: concerning it or them.
- adverb (figuratively) Near to that activity or situation.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English ther-aboute, ther-abouten (“of a place or an object: around there, in its vicinity; surrounding it; nearby, neighbouring; here and there, throughout that place; of an action, matter, etc.: about, concerning; of an amount or distance: approximately, more or less; of time: about then, around that time”) [and other forms], from Old English þǣrābūtan, þǣronbūtan, from þǣr (“there”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *só (“this; that”) + *-r) + abūtan, onbūtan (“about; round about; on; on the outside”) (from on- (prefix meaning ‘on; upon; there; thither; to’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- (“on; onto”)) + būtan (“just, merely, only”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep- + *úd (“away; out; outwards; upwards”))). The English word is analysable as there + about.
The word is attested earlier than thereabouts.
Webster’s 1913
- adverb Near that place.
- adverb Near that number, degree, or quantity; nearly; as, ten men, or thereabouts.
Etymology [The latter spelling is less proper, but more commonly used.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “thereabout”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details