go about

verb

1. (adverb) to move from place to place

2. (preposition) to busy oneself with

   to go about one's duties

3. (preposition) to tackle (a problem or task)

4. (preposition) to be actively and constantly engaged in (doing something)

   he went about doing good

5. to circulate (in)

   there's a lot of flu going about

6. (adverb) (of a sailing ship) to change from one tack to another

Idioms and Phrases

Also, go around . Move here and there, to and fro; also, circulate. For example, She's been going about telling everyone the news , or A report went around that the dollar was dropping . [c. 1300]

Set about, undertake, as in I'm not sure how to go about making a pie . [Late 1600s]

go about one's business . Proceed with one's own proper occupation or concern. For example, Don't bother with that—just go about your business . [Late 1600s]

Example Sentences

The National Guard troops almost always worked in groups of two or more, often standing on street corners or walking together, letting pedestrians go about their days.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Encrypting and decrypting your traffic as you go about your online business has a cost, translating to a speed hit on your connection.

Read more on Salon

"Really disappointed by how India is going about in Test cricket. The all-rounder obsession is absolute brain-fade, especially when you don't bowl them," Prasad said on X, external.

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The producers used a casting director to find these folks but Sheeran says none of them knew they’d be encountering him as they went about their business in Manhattan.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

And when Gabriel suffered a concussion, it was suddenly Sanders’s offense—and it went about as horribly as possible.

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Related Words

• set about