thereby
adverb
Simple meaning
By that means or because of that.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
thehrbySay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈðɛɹˈbaɪ
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
By that means or because of that
“He knocked over the red wine, thereby ruining the table cloth.”
formal
By it; by that; by that means, or as a consequence of that.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: By that means or because of that
Used this way, thereby is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
“He knocked over the red wine, thereby ruining the table cloth.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use thereby
- “He knocked over the red wine, thereby ruining the table cloth.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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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.