passing

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

The fact of going past.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

pasing

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpæsɪŋ

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.

noun

The fact of going past; a movement from one place to another or a change from one state to another.
Death, dying; the end of something.
Euphemistic expressions for death
A form of juggling where several people pass props between each other, usually clubs or rings.

adjective

Going past.
That passes away; ephemeral.
That passes in any sense.
Vague, cursory.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B1 · Intermediate
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The fact of going past; a movement from one place to another or a change from one state to another.

Used this way, passing 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: Matter-of-fact
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 passing

“A team with a good passing attack.”adjective
“The coach sent in a passing play on third and long.”noun
“She drove but well but her reckless passing of every car on the road frightened me.”noun

Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

departure
The desertion by a party to any pleading of the ground taken by him in his last antecedent pleading, and the adoption….
transient
A transient phenomenon, especially an electric current.
pass
The state of things; condition; predicament; impasse.
release
The catch on an electromagnetic circuit breaker for a motor, triggered in the event of an overload.

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.

passing commentnounCompound term
An incidental remark.
passing gamenounCompound term
A play that involves one player throwing the ball to a teammate.
passing notenounCompound term
A nonharmonic note inserted for transition between harmonic notes.
passing playnounCompound term
A play that involves one player throwing the ball to a teammate.
passing shotnounCompound term
A tennis return that passes an opponent who has approached the net.
passing tonenounCompound term
A nonharmonic note inserted for transition between harmonic notes.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

passagenounRelated term
The act of passing from one state or place to the next.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: going past

passage

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “passing” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

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.