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What the trend to digital watches and clocks has brought about is a new and interesting use of the word analog.

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Definitions (54)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (18)

  1. adverb Approximately; nearly: The interview lasted about an hour.
  2. adverb Almost: The job is about done.
  3. adverb To a reversed position or direction: Turn about and walk away slowly.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (24)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (8)

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Examples

  • What the trend to digital watches and clocks has brought about is a new and interesting use of the word analog. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol IX No 3
  • Subtitled "A Look at the Vocabulary of English," the book aims to bring together the most important observations that have been made about the English word stock. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VIII No 3
  • So the idea about were there any unusual reactions when you diluted it? —  CNN Transcript Oct 23, 2001
  • So it's certainly something the FBI is extremely concerned about, is American citizens going to fight with Al Shabab and learning skills that they might re-export back into the United States -- Anderson. —  CNN Transcript Apr 8, 2009
  • The only thing I intended to talk to her about was her drinking. " —  Lawman Lover
 

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About has been looked up 546 times, favorited once, listed 17 times, and commented on 9 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

for ·  only ·  then ·  with ·  over ·  almost ·  on ·  alone ·  unlimited ·  inward ·  mutual ·  down
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English onbūtan : on, in; see on + būtan, outside; see ud- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English about, aboute, earlier abouten, abute, abuten, from Anglo-Saxon ābūtan (= OFries. ābūta), about, around, from ā- for on (the Anglo-Saxon form onbūtan also occurs, with an equivalent ymbūtan, round about, from ymbe, ymb, around, about, = German um = Greek ἀμφί: see amphi-) + būtan, outside, from be, by, + ūtan, outside, from without, from ūt, preposition and adverb, out: see on, by, be-, and out.
 

Pronunciations
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/əˈbaʊt/
by Jim Goode
by American Heritage

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