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thereby

UK/ðɛəˈbaɪ/US/ðɛɹˈbaɪ/
adverbC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,805 of 15,258mostly writtenformal · an editor’s judgement

Thereby means by that means, and as a result. The action was taken and this is what it achieved.

It is formal and legal in flavour, and it usually introduces a consequence in a participle clause, as in thereby avoiding the charge. It belongs to contracts, judgments and academic writing rather than speech. Its most famous use is entirely different, since thereby hangs a tale is a phrase from Shakespeare meaning there is a story attached to that, and it is the only place many people ever meet the word.

Definitions of thereby

  1. 1adverbtherebyBy that means; with that result.C1

    “He signed the form, thereby accepting the terms.”

Where it comes from

  1. Old English

    ðǣrbig

  2. Middle English

    therby

  3. English, today

    thereby

From Middle English therby, from Old English ðǣrbig, equivalent to there + by. Compare the parallel formation of German dabei.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 2 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

thereby in the wild

  • Odin, with the help of Suttungr's brother Baugi, drilled a hole into the mountain and thereby gained access to the mead.

    Hnitbjorg

  • The herbarium is also a partner in the Australasian Virtual Herbarium project, thereby making all of its collection data available to anyone to use.

    National Herbarium of Victoria

  • Certain fields, such as health care, education, law enforcement, and various computer-related occupations are thereby always in demand.

    Recession-proof job

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.