around
- adverb
- /əˈraʊnd/
- We walked around the pond to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
- all around
- around in a circle
- roll around
Examples
-
But this you can like put around your neck, right?
-
Round and around and around and around we go.
-
So yes, go all the way around looking good.
-
So inside the car, driving around, it sounds great.
-
I want him to take a look around.
-
The door was locked, so they walked around to the backyard and looked in the window.
Fiction book (1990) -
We ate at the park cafe, and then we drove around some more and went home.
Fiction book (1990) -
Ya'll go around the side of the house and come on around back.
-
Thomas Fenster immediately woke and looked up and around, out the window, and then at me.
Fiction book (1990) -
Go to AFM, walk around, get your mind blown.
Synonyms
To be all around a person or thing on every side
Move in a circle around a point, like a planet around the Sun
To move around something in a circle
Move in a round path around someone or something
To form a circle around a person or thing
To go on foot around the edge of something instead of through it
To make something move in a circle around a central point
Travel by boat around a place like a coast or lake
To move along the edge of something
Move in a circle around a central object, like planets around the Sun
To move quickly in a circle, often through the air
Move around something following a curved path
Move around something or someone in a circle
To go around something to get to the other side
Idioms
The most important thing that makes life keep going, like money or love
To sail around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, often in dangerous weather
To take part in a traditional May Day dance in a circle around a tall decorated pole
- Informal
A constant problem or responsibility that is hard to get rid of
To avoid saying something directly by talking a long time before answering
- Archaic
To talk or act in a long, roundabout way to avoid the main point
- Informal
Behaving as if you are the most important person and others do not matter
- Informal
Talk in a relaxed, joking way and make stories bigger to be funny
Compounds
- Specialized
Stopping an approach or attempt to try again, for example when a plane pulls up instead of landing
- Baby Talk
A children's game where players hold hands, walk in a circle, and fall down while singing
- NSFW
Money given during elections to get people to vote for a candidate or pay small local costs
- Baby Talk
A children's game where players hold hands in a circle, sing, and fall down
Negative ideas that lead people to treat those with mental health problems unfairly
Surface Forms
Morphology
around = round (transparent) = a + round
This sense is essentially the same spatial meaning as 'round', with 'a-' forming the established adverbial variant 'around'.
Etymology
Around comes from a- 'on' + round 'circle', so it literally meant 'on the circle'. That's why around often means moving in a circle or going all the way around something.