pass

Less common meanings

13. 13
    overlookverbliterarytransitive

    To let something go by without notice; to disregard.

    Please you that I may pass / This doing.

    c. 1608, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”

    I pass their warlike pomp, their proud array.

    1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”

    Similarignore, disregard, neglect, discount

    Oppositeheed, notice

    Note

    A deliberate leaving-aside. What is passed is a matter, an act or a description that the speaker chooses not to dwell on. Coriolanus asks leave to "pass this doing," and Dryden in 1700 writes "I pass their warlike pomp," a narrator skipping a set piece. The object should clearly be a topic, not a place, or the sentence reads as going past. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Coriolanus, the character, asks permission to “pass this doing” in Act II, scene ii. folgerdigitaltexts.org
    • Dryden’s quoted line appeared in the first publication of Fables Ancient and Modern in 1700. en.wikisource.org
    • In “Palamon and Arcite,” Dryden’s narrator says the quoted words while omitting a description of the triumphal procession. en.wikisource.org
14. 14
    spend (time)verbtransitive

    To spend a period of time, especially in a particular way.

    We pass the evenings playing cards.

    He passed his last years by the sea.

    UsageUsually pass the time, often to fill a wait: to pass the time on the train.

    Similarspend, fill, occupy

    Note

    Milton writes of passing "commodiously this life." A 1918 novel has a man who "had passed his fiftieth year," where the object is an age reached rather than an hour filled. When time itself is the subject, the meaning is time elapsing. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Milton wrote the quoted wording in Paradise Lost. gutenberg.org
    • The novel containing the quotation was first published in 1918: W. B. Maxwell's The Mirror and the Lamp. openlibrary.org
    • The novel describes a man as having passed his fiftieth year; the quotation concerns his age. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    change intoverbintransitive

    To progress or advance from one state to another.

    Grief can pass into anger.

    In twenty years, the town passed from a sleepy farming village to a busy suburb.

    UsageUsually pass from one state to another, or pass into: grief passes into anger.

    Similarturn, change, transition, progress

16. 16
    verbtransitive

    To utter or pronounce something, such as a judgment or sentence, or to pledge one's word.

    Critics were quick to pass judgment on the new mayor before she had done anything.

    After hearing from the victims' families, the judge passed sentence on both men.

    UsageMostly in set phrases: pass sentence, pass judgment on, pass a remark.

    Similarsay, utter, pronounce

    Note

    Fielding's Tom Jones (1749) has "leave it to yourself to pass sentence on your own conduct", and Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) has "thy word is passed" for a promise given. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Henry Fielding wrote Tom Jones, first published in 1749. en.wikisource.org
    • The quoted words occur in Tom Jones, spoken by Sophia. gutenberg.org
    • John Milton wrote Paradise Lost, first published in 1667. christs.cam.ac.uk
    • Paradise Lost contains the quoted phrase, with modernized spelling, referring to the Father's promise; the Son of God speaks it. upload.wikimedia.org
17. 17
    verbintransitive

    With for or as: to be mistakenly regarded or accepted as a person or thing other than what one really is.

    The forged banknotes were good enough to pass for the real thing in dim light.

    Wearing a borrowed badge, he passed as a hotel employee and slipped into the back office.

    UsageKeep for or as: pass for a college student, pass as real.

18. 18
    sexual advancenouncountable

    A sexual advance toward someone, often after make and followed by at.

    She ignored the pass and changed the subject.

    At the holiday party, a coworker made a clumsy pass at her, and she quickly walked away.

    Similarproposition

19. 19
    leave the bodyverbtransitive or intransitive

    To excrete or otherwise naturally discharge something, such as a kidney stone, from the body.

    Most swallowed coins pass within days.

    The stone was passed overnight.

    UsageCommon in pass blood, pass a kidney stone, pass urine.

    Similarvoid, evacuate

    Note

    A clinical verb, at home in medicine. Patients pass blood or a stone, and a body passes a poison before an autopsy can find it. Its technical synonyms, evacuate and void, are colder still, and pass keeps the neutral tone that suits a medical history. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The body can clear a poisonous substance before postmortem testing can detect it. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
20. 20
    exam successnouncountable

    The achievement of a satisfactory result in an exam or comparable test.

    A pass is forty percent, a merit sixty.

    Her passes were all in science subjects.

    UsageOften a pass in a subject, three passes, a bare pass, with get or gain.

    Oppositefail, failure

21. 21
    happenverbintransitive

    To happen or come about.

    She never told anyone what passed between her and her father that evening.

    Despite all the warnings, the disaster everyone feared never came to pass.

    UsageMostly in come to pass and what passed between people.

    Similarhappen, occur, befall, chance

    Note

    The fixed phrase come to pass keeps this meaning alive: it will soon come to pass. Otherwise the sense is most at home in what passed, as in what passed between them or, in an 1876 serial, "the memory of what passed while at that place." It covers events and conversations alike. Its plain synonyms are happen and occur. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The quoted passage appeared in an 1876 serial installment of The Dilemma. en.wikisource.org
    • The quotation reproduces words spoken by Falkland in Chapter LIII of The Dilemma. en.wikisource.org
22. 22
    single sweepnouncountable

    A sweeping motion, especially of the hand, directed at something or passing over or along it.

    Each pass of the plane takes off a thin shaving.

    The conjuror's passes hid the card.

    Similarstroke, sweep, swipe, movement

23. 23
    round of worknouncountable

    An attempt at doing or dealing with something.

    One more pass at the data and we'll know.

    Her first pass at the budget left out travel costs, so she went back and revised it.

    Similarattempt, try, go (entry), shot, stab

24. 24
    overtakingnouncountable

    In sport, the act of overtaking, or an overtaking maneuver.

    The pass came at the hairpin.

    Passes are rare on that narrow circuit.

    Similarovertake

    Note

    Motor racing's countable noun for overtaking. A 2020 report on the Tuscan Grand Prix has a driver who dropped back and "had to fight his way back up" with some excellent passes. Commentators locate passes by where they happen: at the hairpin, under braking. The verb behind the noun is going past. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • A 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix report describes Alex Albon dropping back and fighting his way up with excellent passes; the quoted wording is exact. bbc.co.uk
25. 25
    be taken forverbintransitive

    To be perceived by others as belonging to a particular race, gender, or other identity group, so that one's background goes unnoticed.

    Light-skinned relatives chose to pass and cut all ties.

    Passing as a man got her into the university.

    UsageTakes as or for: pass as white, pass as a woman; in such contexts it can also stand alone.

    Note

    A sociological term with a painful history behind its commonest uses. A 2010 study ties passing as white to the one-drop rule of the Jim Crow era. A 1999 memoir uses it for being taken as a woman in public. The noun is passing, as in a study titled "Passing as Black." Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The study was published in 2010. journals.sagepub.com
    • The study connects passing as white with resistance to the one-drop rule and Jim Crow racial restrictions. researchgate.net
    • The memoir uses 'pass as a woman' for being perceived as a woman without disclosure. en.wiktionary.org
    • A study has the title 'Passing as Black', with a subtitle. journals.sagepub.com
26. 26
    be acceptedverbintransitive

    To go ahead unchallenged, without being blocked or opposed.

    A claim that bold won't pass without someone asking for proof.

    Her claim that the project was on schedule passed unchallenged, though several people at the table knew otherwise.

    Similargo (entry), slide

27. 27
    verbintransitive

    To continue, or to go on as before.

    Similarcontinue

    Oppositecease, stop

28. 28
    verbtransitive

    To bring something, such as money, into circulation or general use.

    He was arrested for passing fake twenty-dollar bills at gas stations across the state.

    She tried to pass a forged check at the bank, but the teller noticed the signature was wrong.

    Similarcirculate

29. 29
    verbintransitive

    To be tolerated in place of something else; to be good enough to do.

    It's not the suit I wanted for the wedding, but it will pass.

    The motel room was cramped and plain, but it would pass for one night.

    UsageUsually with will or would after a concession: not ideal, but it will pass.

    Similardo, suffice, serve

30. 30
    verbtransitive

    To go beyond something in degree or quality, so as to be greater or better than it.

    The scale of the damage seems to pass belief, yet the photographs show every bit of it.

    Sales of the new phone passed ten million in its first month, far more than anyone had predicted.

    Similarexceed, surpass, excel, outdo, beat

    Note

    Poets have long given the verb this sense of outdoing: Byron, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, writes of a tender power that "passes the strength of storms", and Spenser uses it the same way in The Faerie Queene. With an abstract object it turns into a phrase of astonishment, as in a sight that passes belief. For plain comparisons, surpass or exceed is the more usual verb today. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Byron uses pass meaning surpass in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, with the quoted wording describing a tender power. upload.wikimedia.org
    • Spenser also uses pass meaning surpass in The Faerie Queene, supporting the claim of longstanding poetic use. emls.artsci.utoronto.ca
31. 31
    nouncountable

    A state of affairs that matters have come to, especially a difficult situation or a deadlock.

    Years of bad decisions had brought the family business to a desperate pass.

    It's come to a pretty pass when you need an appointment just to speak to your own landlord.

    UsageMostly in come to such a pass or a pretty pass, where pretty is ironic.

    Similarcondition, state, predicament

    Note

    In King Lear the cry is "What, have his daughters brought him to this pass?", and the phrase has kept that tone of dismay. A pretty pass, as in Norman Lindsay's Redheap (1930), uses pretty ironically: the state of things is anything but. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The quotation occurs in King Lear; Lear speaks it. scholarsbank.uoregon.edu
    • Norman Lindsay wrote Redheap, first published in 1930. openlibrary.org
    • Redheap contains the expression a pretty pass in a disapproving context. en.wiktionary.org
    • Pretty pass denotes an unsatisfactory situation, making pretty ironic. en.wiktionary.org
32. 32
    noun

    One complete reading of a document from start to finish, done as a step in translating, compiling, or reformatting it.
33. 33
    verb

    To wind a rope or lashing around something, such as a furled sail, and make it fast.
34. 34
    verb

    To place the ball with an accurate, controlled kick instead of a hard one, especially into the goal.
35. 35
    verb

    To lunge at an opponent or take a swing at them.
36. 36
    verb

    To move between people, as when a title is handed on or news spreads.
37. 37
    verb

    To let a person get in, be admitted, or be carried somewhere, as a ticket does.
38. 38
    verb

    To strain or sift something through a sieve or fine mesh.
39. 39
    verb

    Of property, to be handed over to a new owner through a will, deed, or similar legal document.
40. 40
    verb

    To shift into a different condition, such as from liquid to gas, with no suggestion of moving forward or improving.
41. 41
    verb

    To go through or endure an experience.
42. 42
    verb

    To choose not to give an answer, especially in a quiz or game.
43. 43
    verb

    In the card game euchre, to refuse the chance to pick which suit will be trumps.
44. 44
    verbobsolete

    To pay attention to or care about something.

    As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not.

    1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt,”
45. 45
    noun

    A waterway through which a river, lagoon, or other body of water opens into the sea, often among a delta's channels.
46. 46
    noun

    One sweep of a tool across a workpiece, or of material through a machine, as in sanding or milling.
47. 47
    noun

    A lunge or attack made with a weapon at an opponent.
48. 48
    noun

    A witty jab or clever remark.
49. 49
    noun

    On a single-track railroad, an occasion when one train waits in a siding so that a following train going the same way can overtake it.
50. 50
    noun

    A walk given on purpose in baseball, sending the batter to first base.
51. 51
    nounobsolete

    Reputation or standing.
52. 52
    noun

    The counter between cooks and servers where plated food is checked and handed over to be carried out to diners.
53. 53
    noun

    A player's choice to skip a turn, often announced aloud with the word itself.
54. 54
    nounslang

    A secret login code, especially for a site that only members can enter.