whereabouts

American  

[hwair-uh-bouts, wair-] / ˈʰwɛər əˌbaʊts, ˈwɛər- /

adverb

1. about where? where?

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conjunction

1. near or in what place.

   trying to find whereabouts in the world we were.

noun

1. (used with a singular or plural verb) the place where a person or thing is; the locality of a person or thing.

   no clue as to his whereabouts.

whereabouts British  

/ ˈwɛərəˌbaʊts /

adverb

1. Also: whereabout.  at what approximate location or place; where

   whereabouts are you?

2. obsolete about or concerning which

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noun

1. (functioning as singular or plural) the place, esp the approximate place, where a person or thing is

Etymology

Origin of whereabouts

1400–50; late Middle English wheraboutes, equivalent to Middle English wheraboute ( see whereabout) + -s -s ¹

Explanation

Your whereabouts are the place you are right now. When your dog gets lost, your family might form a search party to discover his whereabouts. Officially, the noun whereabouts can be treated as singular or plural, but it's more common to use it as plural. News stories about escaped prisoners or criminals on the run often mention that their whereabouts are unknown, and parents who like to keep tabs on a teenager's whereabouts sometimes buy her a cell phone. The earliest use of whereabouts, one sometimes used today, was as an interrogative adverb: "Whereabouts will you be this afternoon?"

Example Sentences

His whereabouts are known by the loathsome twin giant worms, a brother and sister, who took over the planet Nal Hutta after the slaying of its gangster boss, Jabba the Hutt.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026

The lack of information about Kardo Ranya's real name has also made it harder for individual police forces in Europe to track his whereabouts or follow leads beyond their own borders.

From BBC • May 12, 2026

She usually won’t know precisely where in Los Angeles he is—or, for that matter, the whereabouts of his 15-year-old brother, either.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026

Riverside County sheriff’s investigators questioned Burke about her whereabouts in February 2024, but Burke claimed he was “unaware she was a minor or that she had been reported missing,” Silverman wrote.

From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026

At least she remembered that they had run away from home, and she didn’t want any New York paper advertising her whereabouts.

From "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg