whereabouts
noun · adverb
Simple meaning
The general location where something is.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wehruhbowtsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwɛɹəbaʊts
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.
noun
The general location where something is
“I questioned him about his whereabouts on the night of the crime.”
with a possessive
A location; where something is situated.
sports
Information about an elite athlete's future whereabouts, supplied to antidoping authorities to facilitate random out-of-competition testing.
adverb
In, at or near what location.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The general location where something is
Used this way, whereabouts is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“I questioned him about his whereabouts on the night of the crime.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “whereabouts on …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: whereabouts on …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use whereabouts
- “I questioned him about his whereabouts on the night of the crime.”noun
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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.