follow
verb
Simple meaning
To travel behind, go after, come after.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fahlohSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɑloʊ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
ambitransitive
To travel behind, go after, come after
“The ducklings followed their mother around the pond.”
ambitransitive
Come after in time, as a result
“A terrible tsunami followed the earthquake.”
ambitransitive
To go or come after in a sequence.
ambitransitive
To go after; to pursue; to move behind in the same path or direction, especially with the intent of catching.
transitive
To carry out (orders, instructions, etc.).
transitive
To walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To travel behind, go after, come after
Used this way, follow is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The ducklings followed their mother around the pond.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- postdate , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use follow
- “The ducklings followed their mother around the pond.”verb
- “A terrible tsunami followed the earthquake.”verb
- “Teenagers follow their friends in everything.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Going or proceeding or coming after in the same direction.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A group of followers or enthusiasts.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Carry a stroke to natural completion after hitting or releasing a ball.
A piece of work that exploits or builds on earlier work.
Pursue to a conclusion or bring to a successful issue.
Do what someone else is doing.
An immediate second innings forced on a cricket team scoring a prescribed number of runs fewer than its opponents in the first innings.
What is listed next.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to travel behind or go after or come after
Say it better
Looking for a more precise alternative? “follow” can mean several things.
Do you have an update on this?Any update on the contract? Happy to wait if it's still with legal.Following up on the contract, could you let me know where it stands?
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.