through

Less common meanings

12. 12
    finishedadjectiveUS

    Finished with something or someone; having completed it or no longer wanting anything to do with it.

    Let me know when you're through with the meeting.

    We were through by three and went home early.

    Similarfinished, done

13. 13
    adverb

    So as to pass one stage of a process and reach the next.

    The planning application went through without objection.

    The council voted the new bike lanes through despite protests from shop owners.

    UsageOften go through or be voted through: the bill went through.

14. 14
    adverb

    From one side of something to the other, passing through its inside or an opening.

    The bullet passed clean through.

    We didn't stop in the town, just drove through.

15. 15
    completelyadverb

    All the way across or into something.

    Bake until the loaf is cooked through.

    By the time I reached the bus stop, my coat was wet through.

    UsageAfter words like cooked, wet and soaked: cooked through, wet through.

    Similarthoroughly

16. 16
    connectedadverb

    So as to make a connection or reach someone, especially by telephone, mostly after 'get' or 'put'.

    Hold the line, I'm putting you through.

    The signal is weak up here, so texts don't always get through.

    UsageWith get or put: get through to someone, put a caller through.

    Note

    The telephone is its natural setting, as when you ring the bank all day and finally get through. The obstacle overcome is whatever stood between caller and answer.

17. 17
    partwayadjective

    With a measure of progress, partway along a task or activity toward its end.

    By lunchtime we were about a third through.

    She's more than halfway through with the translation.

    UsageUsually after a fraction: halfway through, a quarter of the way through.

18. 18
    used uppreposition

    Used after verbs like 'go' and 'get' to show that something is consumed or used up.

    The team got through a case of water at halftime.

    I go through a notebook every month.

    Note

    Consumption pictured as a journey from full to empty. Speakers often use it to remark on the speed, which is why already and in six months sit so naturally beside it.

19. 19
    directadjective

    Going from origin to destination without a change of vehicle.

    There's no through service on Sundays, so you change at York.

    There is no through service on Sundays, so passengers have to change at the junction.

    UsageBefore the noun: a through train, a through flight.

    Similardirect, nonstop

    Note

    Railway English at heart: a 1940 article recalls a Paddington train once billed as Through Train via Severn Tunnel. Don't let the repetition in the through flight through Memphis confuse you: the second word is the preposition, naming the stop, while the first promises you stay aboard. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • A November 1940 article, “Notes and News: The First Corridor Train,” in Railway Magazine, page 618, recalls a Paddington service described as “Through Train via Severn Tunnel.” en.wiktionary.org
20. 20
    adjective

    Extending right across something so as to come out on the far side.

    A through hole goes all the way, unlike a blind one.

    The house has a through passage from front door to garden.

    Oppositeblind

    Note

    A builder's and engineer's adjective, used before the noun. A through bolt passes right across the timber it fixes, and through roads run on instead of ending. The traveler's through train belongs to the no-change journey sense. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • A through bolt passes completely through the timber it fastens. museum.wa.gov.au
21. 21
    adjective

    Done for; finished, with no future in a role or a place.

    When the votes came in, everyone knew the senator was through.

    Don't count him out, he's not through yet.

    UsageOften you're through as a threat, or I'm not through yet as defiance.

    Similarfinished, done

    Note

    The person, not the task, is finished here: done for in a role, with no way back. A phrase such as as an executive often names what has been lost. The defiant negative has the ring of a stock line, I'm not through yet!, shouted by someone who refuses to be counted out.

22. 22
    into next roundadjectiveCommonwealthIrelandUK

    Usually with 'to', having qualified for the next stage after winning a match or passing an exam.

    Three candidates are through to the final interview.

    If they draw, they're through on goal difference.

    Similarqualified

    Oppositeout

    Note

    The language of qualifying in British, Irish and Commonwealth English, and seldom heard in Canada: a team is through to the final, a candidate through to the next round. Without to, a listener may hear the "finished" meaning instead, so naming the destination is what keeps the sense clear.

23. 23
    stone slabnounobsolete

    A stone coffin or tomb; also a large slab laid on a tomb or across a dry-stone wall to bind it.

    Note

    A different word that merely shares the spelling. It comes from Old English þrūh, meaning trough, conduit, pipe, chest or coffin, and ultimately from a root meaning to bore or drill, probably first a hollowed-out piece of wood. The coffin and tomb uses are obsolete. Dry-stone wallers still speak of through stones, set from one face of a wall to the other, though whether that use belongs here or to the ordinary through is uncertain. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The coffin noun has a separate origin from ordinary through and derives from Old English þrūh, with the listed meanings. en.wiktionary.org
    • Its ultimate root means to bore or drill. en.wiktionary.org
24. 24
    adjective

    In soccer, in possession of the ball beyond the last line of defense, with at most the goalkeeper to beat.