to get around
56
2.8
- phrasal verb
- /ɡɛt əˈraʊnd/
:
circular
- Word gets around.
And then gossip gets around and everybody talks.
- And then gossip gets around and everybody talks.
- After that all happened the word got around and somehow it turns out that she's my first cousin.
- Because this is a small town and that gets around.
- Well, word got around the al Qaeda community that we had gotten him.
- But in this environment, let's just say it's a, it's a smaller community where word gets around.
- And word got around that, hey, you're going to go, you're going to go over there, you're probably going to see some action.
Examples
-
Word of my project got around the hospital because my mother talked about it in the supply room.
Fiction book (1992) -
- The word's got around.
-
That means that word is getting around.
-
- Word gets around fast here.
-
Information about promising programs gets around the country in a flash.
Academic text (1998) -
But word got around and pretty soon we were booking real gigs.
-
From that point, Eduard simply listed himself on the board, and word got around.
Fiction book (2000) -
After that all happened the word got around and somehow it turns out that she's my first cousin.
-
Word got around fast.
-
The news about the festival quickly got around, and many people decided to attend.
Synonyms
∞
3.6
To make news known quickly
750
1.6
To become known by many people
412
3.5
Become known to many people, even when it was secret
103
3.9
To spread information or documents among people
92
4.1
Spread quickly among many people
85
2.3
Spread among many people, as with a story or rumor
68
3.1
Tell many people about something so they know
61
3.8
To spread very quickly online and reach many people
48
6.8
To spread information or ideas widely so many people know them
31
3.2
Tell many people about something so they know
23
5.9
Spread ideas, news, or feelings to many people
8
6.1
Spread slowly through a group until many people know or feel it
4
2.0
Make information spread among many people
To spread news or pictures quickly among many people on the internet
Antonyms
How Widespread
Surface Forms
Morphology
get + around
The meaning 'to move or travel from place to place' is directly compositional from 'get' (arrive/move) + 'around' (about various places), following a common English verb + particle pattern. This motion sense maps onto clear spatial logic found in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Get around comes from the image of a piece of news moving from person to person, like a secret passed around a room. So when news gets around it becomes known by many people, which is why it means 'to become widely known'.