Around Meaning
/əˈɹaʊnd/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
prepForming a circle or closed curve containing (something).
prepCentred upon; surrounding; regarding.
Sentence Examples
With so many people around he naturally became a bit nervous.
This will be a good souvenir of my trip around the United States.
The house is built around a central courtyard.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the concert, the crowd of fans waited ____ the stage door for an hour.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The many children ran ____ the park playing a game of tag today.
Word Origin & History
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”)).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal."
— 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
"The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use."
— 2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 26:
"I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn."
— 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
"But Richmond[…]appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw, peeping around the massive silver epergne that almost obscured him from her view, that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either."
— 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
"Men that I knew around Wapatomac didn't wear high, shiny plug hats, nor yeller spring overcoats, nor carry canes with ivory heads as big as a catboat's anchor, as you might say."
— 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter X, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the concert, the crowd of fans waited ____ the stage door for an hour.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The many children ran ____ the park playing a game of tag today.