passing

(noun, adjective, verb, adverb)

adjective

1. something which lasts for a short period of time.

- a passing trend in fashion

Similar word(s): impermanent, temporary, ephemeral, fugacious, transient, transitory

2. of advancing the ball by throwing it

- a team with a good passing attack

- a pass play

Similar word(s): pass

3. allowing you to pass (e.g., a test, a law or inspection) satisfactorily

- a passing grade

Similar word(s): satisfactory

4. hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough

- a passing glance

Similar word(s): careless, casual, cursory, perfunctory, superficial

5. moving past.

- passing animals

adverb

1. to an extraordinary degree

- she was a surpassingly beautiful woman

- I will mention only one particular aspect of the current mess because ... this one is surely something new and passing strange

Similar word(s): surpassingly

noun

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

Similar word(s): pass

Definition categories: act

2. euphemistic expressions for death

- thousands mourned his passing

Similar word(s): departure, exit, expiration, going, loss, release

Definition categories: event, death, decease, expiry

3. the motion of one object relative to another

- stellar passings can perturb the orbits of comets

Similar word(s): passage

Definition categories: event, motion, movement

4. the end of something

- the passing of winter

Definition categories: event, end, last

5. a bodily reaction of changing from one place or stage to another

- the passage of air from the lungs

- the passing of flatus

Similar word(s): passage

Definition categories: act, reaction, response

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

Similar word(s): overtaking

Definition categories: act, reordering

7. success in satisfying a test or requirement

- his future depended on his passing that test

- he got a pass in introductory chemistry

Similar word(s): pass, qualifying

Definition categories: act, success

verb

1. present participle of pass