Phrase guide

about to

phrase · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

phrase

Meaning 1

Indicates something that will happen very soon; indicates action that is imminent; ready to; went to

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, verb, with-infinitive

Examples

  • He's standing at the edge, and I think he's about to jump.
  • She seemed about to say something.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

phrase

Meaning 2

Indicates that one has no intention of doing the stated thing at any time in the future.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Canada, informal

Examples

  • I'm not about to let the lockdown stop me from going to the beach every day.
  • I'm not about to wander around at night to find it.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

phrase

Meaning 3

Indicates that one is preparing or planning to do the stated thing at some time in the future, not necessarily imminently.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

61 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: عَلَى وَشْك (ʕalā wašk) — indicating imminence
  • Armenian: պատրաստվել (patrastvel) — indicating imminence
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 欲 (buóh) — indicating imminence
  • Chinese: 欲 (zh-min-nan) — indicating imminence
  • Chinese Mandarin: 快要 (kuàiyào) — indicating imminence
  • Chinese Mandarin: 剛要 /刚要 (gāngyào) — indicating imminence
  • Cornish: parys dhe — indicating imminence
  • Danish: være ved at — indicating imminence
  • Dutch: op het punt staan te — indicating imminence
  • Esperanto: baldaŭ — indicating imminence
  • French: sur le point de — indicating imminence
  • French: aller — indicating imminence
  • Galician: a punto de — indicating imminence
  • Georgian: თითქმის მზად (titkmis mzad) — indicating imminence
  • German: gleich — indicating imminence
  • German: wollen — indicating imminence
  • Ancient Greek: μέλλω (méllō) — indicating imminence
  • Hebrew: עמד ל־ (amád l-) — indicating imminence
  • Hungarian: készül — indicating imminence
  • Hungarian: szándékában áll — indicating imminence
  • Icelandic: alveg að — indicating imminence
  • Indonesian: hampir saja — indicating imminence
  • Irish: ar tí — indicating imminence
  • Old Irish: fri — indicating imminence
  • Italian: in procinto di — indicating imminence
  • Italian: sul punto di — indicating imminence
  • Italian: stare per — indicating imminence
  • Japanese: ... ところ (...tokoro) — indicating imminence
  • Japanese: まさに...しようとしている (masa ni ... shiyō to shite iru) — indicating imminence
  • Khmer: ស្ទើរតែ (stəə tae) — indicating imminence
  • Korean: (으)려고 하다 — indicating imminence
  • Northern Kurdish: hema hema — indicating imminence
  • Northern Kurdish: hema bêje — indicating imminence
  • Lao: ເກືອບ (kư̄ap) — indicating imminence
  • Lithuanian: ruoštis — indicating imminence
  • Lithuanian: ketinti — indicating imminence
  • Lithuanian: tuoj — indicating imminence
  • Lithuanian: greitai — indicating imminence
  • Māori: whano — indicating imminence
  • Māori: hono — indicating imminence
  • Norwegian Bokmål: være i ferd med å — indicating imminence
  • Occitan: al mand de — indicating imminence
  • Polish: zaraz — indicating imminence
  • Polish: właśnie — indicating imminence
  • Portuguese: no limiar de — indicating imminence
  • Portuguese: prestes a — indicating imminence
  • Portuguese: a ponto de — indicating imminence
  • Russian: собира́ться (sobirátʹsja) — indicating imminence
  • Sardinian: amega — indicating imminence
  • Scottish Gaelic: an impis — indicating imminence
  • Spanish: a punto de — indicating imminence
  • Spanish: estar para — indicating imminence
  • Swedish: på väg att — indicating imminence
  • Tày: ái — indicating imminence
  • Thai: กําลังจะ (gam-lang jà) — indicating imminence
  • Tibetan: ཁད (khad) — indicating imminence
  • Turkish: üzere — indicating imminence
  • Vietnamese: sắp — indicating imminence
  • Welsh: ar — indicating imminence
  • Welsh: ar fin — indicating imminence
  • Yiddish: האַלטן בײַם (haltn baym) — indicating imminence