follow
Syllables: fol·lowUK/ˈfɒləʊ/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northumbria/ˈfɒlə/
follow verb: to go after; to pursue; to move behind in the same path or direction, especially with the intent of catching.
Verb
follow (third-person singular simple present follows, present participle following, simple past and past participle followed)
- To go after; to pursue; to move behind in the same path or direction, especially with the intent of catching.
- Follow that car!
- She left the room and I followed.
- To go or come after in a sequence.
- B follows A in the alphabet.
- We both ordered the soup, with roast beef to follow.
- Synonyms:
- succeed, come after, ensue, follow on
- Antonyms:
- precede, antecede, come before, forego
- To carry out (orders, instructions, etc.).
- Follow these instructions to the letter.
- The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track.[…]Their example was followed by others at a time when the master of Mohair was superintending in person the docking of some...1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, pages 58–59
- Synonyms:
- pursue
- To live one's life according to (religion, teachings, etc).
- To understand, to pay attention to.
- Do you follow me?
- To watch, to keep track of (reports of) some event or person.
- I followed the incumbent throughout the election.
- My friends don't regularly follow the news.
- To be a supporter of (a sports team).
- "Sometimes I wonder what you do take any notice of—except the whistle and short skirts," speculated his superior. "But no doubt ideas are germinating."
"I follow Chelsea," maintained Horace.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
- "Sometimes I wonder what you do take any notice of—except the whistle and short skirts," speculated his superior. "But no doubt ideas are germinating."
- To subscribe to see content from an account on a social media platform.
- If you want to see more of our articles, follow us on Twitter.
- Antonyms:
- unfollow
- To be a logical consequence of something.
- It follows that if two numbers are not equal then one is larger than the other.
- If you don't practise proper hygiene, illness is sure to follow.
- Synonyms:
- ensue
- To walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling.
- O had I but followed the Arts.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
Noun
follow (plural follows)
- In billiards and similar games, a stroke causing a ball to follow another ball after hitting it.
- a follow shot
- The act of following another user's online activity.
- It doesn't take too many follows to become overwhelmed with the deluge of content on Twitter.2012, Brett Petersel, Esther Schindler, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Twitter Marketing
- Social media is supervisual, and there's nothing more shareable than images, so this is a way to increase shares and likes and follows.2016, Brooke Warner, Green-Light Your Book
follow meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
follow in Hindi
- to go or come after in physical space
- पीछा करना pīchā karnā
follow in Tamil
- to go or come after in physical space
- பின்தொடர் piṉtoṭar, தொடர் toṭar
- to go or come after in a sequence
- தொடர் toṭar
- to carry out in accordance to
- பின்தொடர் piṉtoṭar, பின்பற்று piṉpaṟṟu
- to live one’s life according to
- பின்பற்று piṉpaṟṟu, பின்தொடர் piṉtoṭar
follow in Marathi
- to follow, observe
- पाळणे pāḷṇe
follow in Urdu
- to go or come after in physical space
- پیچھا کرنا pīchā karnā
More languagesFewer languages
- follow in Bengali
- ফলা phola
- follow in Telugu
- వెంబడించు vembaḍiñcu, పాటించు pāṭiñcu, అనుసరించు anusariñcu
- follow in Malayalam
- പിന്തുടരുക pintuṭaruka
- follow in Kannada
- ಬೆಂಗೊಳ್, ಬೆಂಕೊಳ್, ಬೆಂಕೊಳು, ಬೆಂಗೊಳು
- follow in Gujarati
- અનુસરવા, અનુસરવું
- follow in Odia
- ଗୋଡ଼ାଇବା goṛāibā
- follow in Sanskrit
- सप् sap, सच् sac, लभते labhate, सचते sácate
- follow in Assamese
- মনা mona, মানা mana
- follow in Nepali
- पछ्याउन
- follow in Tagalog
- sumunod, sundin, sundan, subaybayan
- follow in Arabic
- تَبِعَ tabiʕa, اِتَّبَعَ ittabaʕa, تَابَعَ tābaʕa, خَلَفَ ḵalafa
- follow in Persian
- دنبال کردن donbâl kardan, پیروی کردن peyravi kardan, بعد از چیزی آمدن ba'd az čizi âmadan, طبق چیزی عمل کردن tebq-e čizi 'amal kardan
- follow in Thai
- ตาม dtaam, ทยอย tá-yɔɔi, ติดตาม dtìt-dtaam
- follow in Vietnamese
- theo, đi theo, theo dõi, theo sau
- follow in Myanmar
- လိုက် luik
Examples of follow in a sentence
- The expedition followed the river all the way to the head.
- If the citizens must follow the law, then the government must follow the constitution.
- "Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you" is a good law to follow.
Synonyms of follow
Antonyms
Forms of follow
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | follows |
| present participle | following |
| past participle | followed |
| past | followed |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | followest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | followedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | followeth |
| Noun | |
| plural | follows |
Origin of follow
From Middle English folwen, folȝen, folgen, from Old English folgian (“to follow, pursue”), from Proto-West Germanic *folgēn, from Proto-Germanic *fulgāną (“to follow”).
Words formed from follow
- BYF
- DNF
- easy-to-follow
- followable
- follow along
- follow a wheel
- follow board
- followee
- follower
- follow-home
- following
- follow-me-lad
- follow my leader
- follow-on
- follow one's bliss
- follow one's heart
- follow one's nose
- follow someone to the ends of the earth
- follow someone to the ends of the world
- follow that
- follow the bee
- follow the crowd
- follow the hounds
- follow the lady
- follow the money
- follow the sun
- follow the wind
- follow-through
- follow to the grave
- follow-up
- follow up on
- follow-worthy
- unfollow
Phrases with follow
Words that rhyme with follow
Questions about follow
- What does follow mean?
- Follow means to go after; to pursue; to move behind in the same path or direction, especially with the intent of catching.
- What is follow in Hindi?
- Follow in Hindi is पीछा करना (pīchā karnā). See Follow meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is follow?
- Follow can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce follow?
- Follow is pronounced /ˈfɒləʊ/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of follow?
- The past tense of follow is followed.
Words near follow in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: follow (page history and authors); पाळणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); ফলা (Bengali) (page history and authors); follow (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); follow (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ଗୋଡ଼ାଇବା (Odia) (page history and authors); लभते (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); মনা (Assamese) (page history and authors); follow (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-follow.ogg.
Cite this entry: “follow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/follow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.