1. (American football) a play that involves one player throwing the ball to a teammate
   "the coach sent in a passing play on third and long"; "The team relied heavily on their passing game to overcome the deficit";
   - pass, passing play, passing game
    
2. The motion of one object relative to another
   "stellar passings can perturb the orbits of comets";
   - passage
    
3. Success in satisfying a test or requirement
   "his future depended on his passing that test";
   - pass, qualifying
    
4. Going by something that is moving in order to get in front of it
   "she drove but well but her reckless passing of every car on the road frightened me";
   - overtaking
    
5. A bodily reaction of changing from one place or stage to another
   "the passing of flatus";
   - passage
    
6. The end of something
   "the passing of winter"
    
7. A euphemistic expression for death
   "thousands mourned his passing";
   - loss, departure, exit, expiration, going, release

1. Lasting a very short time
   "a passing fancy";
   - ephemeral, short-lived, transient, transitory, fugacious, here today and gone tomorrow [informal], here today gone tomorrow [informal]
    
2. Allowing you to pass (e.g., an examination or inspection) satisfactorily
   "a passing grade"
    
3. Hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
   "a passing inspection failed to reveal the house's structural flaws";
   - casual, cursory, perfunctory, superficial
    
4. (football) of advancing the ball by throwing it
   "a team with a good passing attack";
   - pass

1. To an extraordinary degree
   "I will mention only one particular aspect of the current mess because … this one is surely something new and passing strange";
   - surpassingly

1. Go across or through
   "We passed the point where the police car had parked"
    
2. Move past
   "A black limousine passed by when she looked out the window"; "He passed his professor in the hall";
   - travel by, pass by, go past, go by
    
3. Travel past
   "The sports car passed all the trucks";
   - overtake, overhaul
    
4. Place into the hands or custody of
   "pass me the spoon, please"; "She passed the wallet on to the police";
   - hand, reach, pass on, turn over, give
    
5. Become later by the passage of a given amount of time
   "three years passed";
   - elapse, lapse, slip by, glide by, slip away, go by, slide by, go along
    
6. Stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope; run or extend between two points or beyond a certain point
   "Service passes all the way to Cranbury";
   - run, go, lead, extend
    
7. (of an event) come to pass in time, so that it is real and actual at some time
   "The ceremony passed off without incident";
   - happen, hap [archaic], go on, pass off, occur, fall out, come about, take place
    
8. Make laws, bills, etc. or bring into effect by legislation
   "They passed the amendment";
   - legislate
    
9. Pass over, across, or through
   "He passed his eyes over her body";
   - guide, run, draw
    
10. Transfer or hand over something from one person or place to another
    "He passed around the plates"
     
11. Transfer to another; of rights or property
    "Our house passed under his official control"
     
12. Be inherited by
    "The estate passed to my sister";
    - fall, return, devolve
     
13. Throw (a ball) to another player
    "Smith passed"
     
14. Transmit information
    "pass along the good news"; "Please pass on this message to all employees";
    - communicate, pass on, pass along, put across
     
15. Go unchallenged; be approved
    "The bill passed the House";
    - clear
     
16. Accept or judge as acceptable
    "The teacher passed the student although he was weak"
     
17. Go successfully through a test or a selection process
    "She passed the new Jersey Bar Exam and can practice law now";
    - make it, make the grade [N. Amer]
     
18. Be superior or better than some standard
    "She passed our expectations";
    - exceed, transcend, go past, top
     
19. Allow to go without comment or censure
    "the insult passed as if unnoticed"
     
20. Use up a period of time in a specific way
    "how are you passing your summer vacation?";
    - spend
     
21. Pass into a specified state or condition; sink into
    "He passed into nirvana";
    - sink, lapse
     
22. Disappear gradually
    "The pain eventually passed off";
    - evanesce, fade, blow over, pass off, fleet
     
23. Grant authorization or clearance for
    "The committee passed the new regulation";
    - authorize, authorise [Brit], clear
     
24. Cease to live
    "Her grandfather passed away last night"; "She passed on from cancer";
    - die, decease [archaic], perish, go, exit, pass away, expire, kick the bucket [informal], cash in one's chips [informal], buy the farm [N. Amer, informal], conk [informal], give up the ghost [informal], drop dead [informal], pop off [informal], croak [informal], snuff it [informal], cash in [informal], cop it [Brit, informal], flatline [informal], pop one's clogs [informal], pass on
     
25. Expel from the body
    "Pass a kidney stone";
    - excrete, egest, eliminate

Derived forms: passings

See also: careless, cavalier, get across, impermanent, move through, pass over, satisfactory, temporary

Type of: advance, allow, be, bring home the bacon [informal], cause, change, change hands, change owners, change state, come through, come up trumps [Brit, informal], communicate, consume, convey, countenance, death, decease, deliver the goods, deplete, disappear, discharge, eat, eat up, eject, enact, end, evaluate, excel, exhaust, expel, expend, expiry, football play, get, go, go away, go on, have, induce, judge, last, let, locomote, make, march on, motion, move, move on, movement, ordain, pass judgment, pass on, permit, progress, reaction, release, reordering, response, rule, run through, stand out, stimulate, succeed, success, surpass, throw, transfer, transmit, travel, turn, turn up trumps [Brit, informal], use, use up, vanish, win, wing, wipe out

Antonym: durable, fail, lasting, long-lasting, long-lived

Encyclopedia: Passing