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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";
   - pass, passing play, passing game
    
2. A euphemistic expression for death
   "thousands mourned his passing";
   - loss, departure, exit, expiration, going, release
    
3. The motion of one object relative to another
   "stellar passings can perturb the orbits of comets";
   - passage
    
4. The end of something
   "the passing of winter"
    
5. A bodily reaction of changing from one place or stage to another
   "the passing of flatus";
   - passage
    
6. 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
    
7. Success in satisfying a test or requirement
   "his future depended on his passing that test";
   - pass, qualifying

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. Make laws, bills, etc. or bring into effect by legislation
   "They passed the amendment";
   - legislate
    
4. 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
    
5. Place into the hands or custody of
   "pass me the spoon, please";
   - hand, reach, pass on, turn over, give
    
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. Travel past
   "The sports car passed all the trucks";
   - overtake, overhaul
    
8. (of an event) come to pass (in time, so that it is real and actual at some time)
   "What is passing off?";
   - happen, hap [archaic], go on, pass off, occur, fall out, come about, take place
    
9. Go unchallenged; be approved
   "The bill passed the House";
   - clear
    
10. Use up a period of time in a specific way
    "how are you passing your summer vacation?";
    - spend
     
11. Pass over, across, or through
    "He passed his eyes over her body";
    - guide, run, draw
     
12. Transmit information
    "pass along the good news"; "Please pass on this message to all employees";
    - communicate, pass on, pass along, put across
     
13. Disappear gradually
    "The pain eventually passed off";
    - evanesce, fade, blow over, pass off, fleet
     
14. 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]
     
15. Be superior or better than some standard
    "She passed our expectations";
    - exceed, transcend, overstep, go past, top
     
16. Accept or judge as acceptable
    "The teacher passed the student although he was weak"
     
17. Allow to go without comment or censure
    "the insult passed as if unnoticed"
     
18. Transfer to another; of rights or property
    "Our house passed under his official control"
     
19. Pass into a specified state or condition; sink into
    "He passed into nirvana";
    - sink, lapse
     
20. Throw (a ball) to another player
    "Smith passed"
     
21. Be inherited by
    "The estate passed to my sister";
    - fall, return, devolve
     
22. Cause to pass
    "She passed around the plates";
    - make pass
     
23. Grant authorization or clearance for
    "The rock star never passed this slanderous biography";
    - authorize, authorise [Brit], clear
     
24. Cease to live; lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
    "She passed away 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, pop off [informal], choke, croak [informal], snuff it [informal], flatline [informal], cop it [Brit, informal], cash in [informal], pop one's clogs [informal]
     
25. Expel from the body
    "Pass a kidney stone";
    - excrete, egest, eliminate

Derived forms: passings

See also: careless, cavalier, impermanent, pass over, satisfactory, slip, temporary, transit, travel, traverse

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

Antonym: durable, fail, flunk [N. Amer, informal], lasting, long-lasting, long-lived

Encyclopedia: Passing