around

A1 Topic:Grammar & Function Words

Also spelled aroun and roun

US /əˈraʊnd/ UK /əˈɹaʊnd/ See IPA manual

Freq #179

Meanings

1

prep
Surrounding or on every side of something.

She wore a gold chain around her neck.
2

adv
Roughly; approximately.

The pot held around a litre of water.
3

adv
In many different places or in every direction.

Dirty clothes were lying around the room.
4

adv
In a circle or turning movement.

The wheels were spinning around.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 adv · roughly; approximately. about

3 adv · in many different places or... about

Word family

Derived forms all-aroundaround-the-clockaroundnesscome-arounddial-aroundgo-aroundhang-aroundkickaroundreach-aroundring-around-the-rosyroundrun-around

Related forms about round

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Phrases (40)

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clown around
to behave in a silly or playful way to amuse people

Verb + adverb
loll around
to spend time lying or sitting lazily without doing much

Verb + adverb
mope around
to move or spend time aimlessly while feeling unhappy

Verb + adverb
revolve around
to move in an orbit around something

Verb + preposition/particle
slosh around
to move about with repeated or clumsy splashing

Verb + adverb
splash around
to play in water while making it scatter about

Verb + adverb

Idioms (3)

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Proverbs (7)

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Tongue twisters (1)

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Rough and Rugged Rocks
Around the rough and rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.

Repeat rough and rugged, then ragged rascal, before joining the sentence. Keep the initial /ɹ/ consistent and distinguish the vowels of r...

Etymology

From Middle English around, arounde, from a- (from Old English a- (“on, at”)) + Middle English round (“circle, round”) borrowed from French, equivalent to a- + round. Cognate with Scots aroond, aroon (“around”). Displaced earlier Middle English umbe, embe (“around”) (from Old English ymbe (“around”)).

arounde Middle English a- Old English round Middle English

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Grammar & Function Words

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# around

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** prep, adv
**IPA (US):** /əˈraʊnd/
**IPA (UK):** /əˈɹaʊnd/
**Frequency rank:** 179

## Meanings
1. Surrounding or on every side of something.
2. Roughly; approximately.
3. In many different places or in every direction.
4. In a circle or turning movement.

## Examples
- She wore a gold chain around her neck.
- The pot held around a litre of water.
- Dirty clothes were lying around the room.
- The wheels were spinning around.

## Derived Forms
- all-around
- around-the-clock
- aroundness
- come-around
- dial-around
- go-around
- hang-around
- kickaround
- reach-around
- ring-around-the-rosy
- round
- run-around

## Related Forms
- about
- round

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: arounde
- Root: a-
- Root: round

## Etymology
From Middle English around, arounde, from a- (from Old English a- (“on, at”)) + Middle English round (“circle, round”) borrowed from French, equivalent to a- + round. Cognate with Scots aroond, aroon (“around”). Displaced earlier Middle English umbe, embe (“around”) (from Old English ymbe (“around”)).

## AI Etymology
Around comes from Middle English around, arounde, from a- (from Old English a- (“on, at”)) plus Middle English round (“circle, round”), borrowed from French, equivalent to a- plus round. Cognate with Scots aroond, aroon (“around”). It displaced earlier Middle English umbe, embe (“around”), from Old English ymbe (“around”). The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern adverbial form is built from the named base and affix.

## Topics
- Grammar & Function Words

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around

Meanings

Thesaurus

Appears in

Phrases (40)

Idioms (3)

Proverbs (7)

Tongue twisters (1)

Etymology

Topics

External links

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