passed

verb

Form of pass , past tense of pass.

Simple meaning

Place into the hands or custody of.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

past

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpæst

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

past tense of pass
Place into the hands or custody of
past tense of pass
Move past
“A black limousine passed by when she looked out the window.”
past tense of pass
To change place.
past tense of pass
Pass over, across, or through

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Place into the hands or custody of

Used this way, passed is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: No strong connotation
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use passed

“A black limousine passed by when she looked out the window.”verb

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

passed throughpassed awaycongress passedpassed before

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

passverbBase word
Go across or through.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

passernounPerson or profession
A person who passes by casually or by chance.
passiveadjectiveDerived adjective
Lacking in energy or will.
passableadjectiveDerived adjective
Able to be passed or traversed or crossed.
passivelyadverbDerived adverb
In a passive manner.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

passed ballnounCompound term
A pitch that the catcher should have caught but did not.

Commonly Confused With

pastPassed vs. PastKnow the difference

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What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Related Learning

Guides that use this word in context.

Word Differences
Passed vs. Past: What’s the Difference?
Passed is always a verb form; past can be a noun, adjective, adverb or preposition. Here’s the quick test to tell them apart.

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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.