thereabouts

Everyday

1. Near that place. tree →
2. Near that number, amount or time: «ten o'clock or thereabouts» means about ten. tree →

In the lessons

A word for guesses and estimates. In maths it signals an approximate answer: «a hundred or thereabouts». In everyday talk and in stories: «He lives in Oxford or thereabouts.»

Examples

• The party starts at six or thereabouts. tree →
• There were fifty people or thereabouts. tree →
• He lives in Dublin or somewhere thereabouts. tree →
• It costs £10 or thereabouts. tree →
• The treasure is buried by the old tree or thereabouts. tree →
• She's eight or thereabouts. tree →
• Full of these remembrances, he came within sight of a lofty mountain, which the people thereabouts told him was called Parnassus. tree →

Note

Almost always after «or»: «or thereabouts». In maths it means the number is approximate, not exact.