What does walkabout mean?
Walkabout is chiefly an informal British and Australian noun for a walk taken for pleasure or a journey made without a fixed destination. In everyday use it often has a leisurely, informal tone: people may go for a walkabout around a park, neighborhood, or town. The word can also function as an intransitive verb, meaning to walk around or wander, though this use is less common. In Australian English, walkabout has a more specialized historical sense associated with Aboriginal Australian ways of life characterized by movement through Country, visits to relatives and communities, and knowledge of routes and places. That sense should be treated as culturally specific rather than as a generic synonym for wandering. Outside Australia, the specialized sense is chiefly encountered in discussion of Australian history or culture. Walkabout is useful because its ordinary meaning conveys casual, purposeful wandering, while its Australian associations give it a richer cultural history. It is more natural in British and Australian English than in American English, where an ordinary stroll or walk is usually preferred.
An informal walk or journey taken for pleasure or without a fixed destination. In Australian English, it can also denote an Aboriginal Australian way of life involving movement through Country and visits to relatives and communities.
"We had a walkabout around the harbor and stopped for coffee."
The ordinary sense is informal and especially common in British and Australian English. The Aboriginal Australian sense is culturally specific and should not be used as a generic label for wandering.
To walk around or wander without a fixed destination.
"After lunch, we walkabout along the canal."
This intransitive use is informal and less common than the noun.
The plural walkabouts is standard when referring to separate walks or journeys.
"They took several walkabouts through the city during their visit."
A harmless-sounding stroll in Britain, “walkabout” can also name a much older Indigenous Australian pattern of moving through Country.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of walkabout
Walkabout is an English compound formed from walk and about and is recorded in Australian English in the early nineteenth century for travel or wandering on foot. Its specialized Australian associations developed alongside that early usage before the word came to mean an informal stroll more broadly. The element about comes from Old English ābut, formed from be and ūt, the same source of out and, more distantly, words such as outer and outing.
Related word forms
How walkabout is actually used
The everyday noun is informal and particularly common in British and Australian English; it is less usual in American English. The Australian cultural sense is specialized and should be used respectfully, without treating it as a universal term for all Aboriginal peoples or as a simple synonym for wandering.