Word.ws English Dictionary

follow through

follow through verb: to execute or complete a commitment.

Verb

follow through (third-person singular simple present follows through, present participle following through, simple past and past participle followed through)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To execute or complete a commitment.
    • I don't appreciate salesmen who make promises and then fail to follow through.
    • Try and follow through with your strategy.
  2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To continue moving the arms (and any held implements, such as a bat or club) or legs after striking e.g. a ball.
    Antonyms:
    backswing
  3. (euphemistic, intransitive, slang) To defecate unintentionally as a result of a cough or sneeze, etc.
    • It looked like he'd just farted and followed through.2013, Dave Cousins, Waiting for Gonzo
    • LORNA WYNDE: You cried so hard, you followed through in Oddbins.2014, Toast of London (TV series), "Fool in Love" (episode)

Antonyms of follow through

Forms of follow through

third-person singular presentfollows through
present participlefollowing through
past participlefollowed through
pastfollowed through

Words formed from follow through

Questions about follow through

What does follow through mean?
Follow through means to execute or complete a commitment.
What part of speech is follow through?
Follow through is a verb.
What is the past tense of follow through?
The past tense of follow through is followed through.

Words near follow through in the dictionary

  1. follow the lady
  2. follow the leader
  3. follow the money
  4. follow the sun
  5. follow the wind
  6. follow through
  7. follow to the grave
  8. follow up
  9. follow up on
  10. follow'd
  11. follow-home

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: follow through (page history and authors). 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-au-follow through.ogg.

Cite this entry: “follow through.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/follow_through. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.