about — OET · Shobdo

about

preposition

1 a book about ancient Greece:

regarding, concerning, with reference to, referring to, with regard to, with respect to, respecting, relating to, on, touching on, dealing with, relevant to, with relevance to, connected with, in connection with, on the subject of, in the matter of, apropos, re;

Scottish anent.

2 British two hundred people were milling about the room:

around, round, throughout, over, through, all over, in all parts of, on every side of, encircling, surrounding;

here and there, everywhere.

3 British they aren't seen about here very often:

near, nearby, close to, not far (away) from, a short distance from, in the vicinity of, in the neighbourhood of, within reach of, adjacent to, beside, around, a stone's throw away from;

informal within spitting distance of, a hop, skip, and a jump away from.

4 while I am about it, I had better apologize for what happened:

occupied with, concerned with, busy with, taken up with, employed in, involved in, absorbed in, in the process of, in the course of, in the midst of, in the throes of;

conducting, pursuing, following, practising.

□ about to

I was about to climb into bed when the bell rang:

going to, ready to, all set to, preparing to, intending to, soon to;

on the point of, on the verge of, on the brink of, within an ace of.

adverb

1 British there were babies crawling about in the grass:

around, here and there, to and fro, back and forth, from place to place, hither and thither, in every direction, in all directions, abroad.

2 British although I hadn't seen him for two years, I knew he was about somewhere:

near, nearby, around, about the place, hereabouts, not far off/away, close by, in the vicinity, in the neighbourhood, at hand, within reach, on the doorstep, (just) around the corner.

3 we think the explosion has caused about £15,000 worth of damage | we think the explosion has caused about $15,000 worth of damage:

approximately, roughly, around, round about, in the neighbourhood/region of, in the area of, of the order of, something like;

or so, or thereabouts, there or thereabouts, more or less, give or take a few, not far off;

British getting on for;

Latin circa;

informal as near as dammit;

North American, informal in the ballpark of.

▷antonyms exactly, precisely.

4 British he gave orders to turn about:

in the opposite direction, in the reverse direction, around, backwards, to face the other way.

5 British there was a lot of flu about:

around, in circulation, in existence, current, going on, prevailing, prevalent, widespread, pervasive, endemic, happening, in the air, abroad.

about Oxford Dictionary of English