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
verb
1. present participle of pass