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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

passing.

That passes away; ephemeral.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈpɑːsɪŋ/UK

  1. That passes away; ephemeral.

  2. Pre-eminent, excellent, extreme.

    archaic · literary

  3. Vague, cursory.

    to make a passing comment
    to have a passing acquaintance with somebody or something

  4. Going past.

    passing cars

  5. That passes in any sense.

    a passing transsexual
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *peth₂-der. Proto-Italic *pattus Latin passus Proto-Italic *-āzi ▲ Latin -ereinflu. Latin -āre Vulgar Latin *passāre Old French passerbor. Middle English passen English pass English -ing English passing From pass + -ing.

adv/ˈpɑːsɪŋ/UK

  1. Surpassingly, greatly.

    archaic · literary · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *peth₂-der. Proto-Italic *pattus Latin passus Proto-Italic *-āzi ▲ Latin -ereinflu. Latin -āre Vulgar Latin *passāre Old French passerbor. Middle English passen English pass English -ing English passing From pass + -ing.

noun/ˈpɑːsɪŋ/UK

  1. Death, dying; the end of something.

    countable · uncountable

  2. The fact of going past; a movement from one place to another or a change from one state to another.

    countable · uncountable

  3. The act of approving a bill etc.

    countable · uncountable

  4. The act of passing a ball etc. to another player.

    countable · uncountable

  5. A form of juggling where several people pass props between each other, usually clubs or rings.

    countable · uncountable

  6. The ability of a person to be regarded as a member of an identity group or category different from their own.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *peth₂-der. Proto-Italic *pattus Latin passus Proto-Italic *-āzi ▲ Latin -ereinflu. Latin -āre Vulgar Latin *passāre Old French passerbor. Middle English passen English pass English -ing English passing From pass + -ing.

verb/ˈpɑːsɪŋ/UK

  1. present participle and gerund of pass

    form-of · gerund · participle · present
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *peth₂-der. Proto-Italic *pattus Latin passus Proto-Italic *-āzi ▲ Latin -ereinflu. Latin -āre Vulgar Latin *passāre Old French passerbor. Middle English passen English pass English -ing English passing From pass + -ing.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.