thereabouts
adverb
Simple meaning
About or near that place.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
thehruhbowtsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ðɛɹəˈbaʊts
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
About or near that place.
“He stayed in London or thereabouts for several weeks.”
About or around that date or time.
Near that time or date
Approximately that number or quantity.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: About or near that place.
Used this way, thereabouts is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“He stayed in London or thereabouts for several weeks.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “thereabouts for …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: thereabouts for …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use thereabouts
- “He stayed in London or thereabouts for several weeks.”adverb
- “Come at noon or thereabouts.”adverb
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Keep learning “thereabouts” by choosing the kind of practice you need next.
- Practice sentence writingWrite sentences with vocabulary and get instant feedback.
- Practice in contextAnswer short vocabulary questions drawn from real situations.
- Review vocabularyTest your recall and strengthen words over time.
- Practice typingType vocabulary from meanings, examples and other prompts.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.