passed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of pass.

   He passed three slower cars on the open highway.

   We had passed the turnoff before anyone noticed the sign.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty. It is the plain past (he passed three cars) and also the participle after have or be (we had passed the turnoff; the note was passed to her). Because pass can take both a direct object and a recipient, passives are common: the message was passed along. Keep it distinct from past, the word of position: you passed the house, or you drove past it.

2. 2
   adjective

   Having succeeded in a required qualification or examination, and therefore certified as qualified.

   A passed midshipman often waited years before a commission opened.

   The board posted the names of every passed applicant.

   Similarqualified, certified

   Oppositefailed

3. 3
   adjective

   Having advanced past a certain point, now found chiefly in set collocations like passed pawn in chess.

   In the endgame, a passed pawn often forces the opponent into a defensive crouch.

   The pitcher's wild throw counted as a passed ball, advancing the runner to third.

   Note

   An adjective that now survives almost only in fixed pairs, most of them from games. In chess, a passed pawn has no enemy pawns ahead of it, either on its own file or on the files beside it. In baseball, a passed ball is a pitch the catcher should have held. Outside such pairs the adjective sounds odd, so treat it as part of the phrase rather than a free modifier.

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