Word.ws English Dictionary

getting across

getting across is the present participle and gerund of get across.

Meaning of get across

Verb

get across (third-person singular simple present gets across, present participle getting across, simple past got across, past participle (UK) got across or (US) gotten across)

  1. (intransitive, transitive) To cross; to move from one side (of something) to the other, literally or figuratively.
    • In heavy rain, the cavalry couldn't get across the river.
  2. (transitive) To make an idea evident; to successfully explain a thought or feeling; put over.
    • I couldn't get across to the board this simple economic fact.
  3. (dated, intransitive, slang, African-American Vernacular) To succeed; to do well.
  4. (slang, transitive) To annoy (someone); to get on someone's bad side.

Questions about getting across

What is getting across the present participle and gerund of?
Getting across is the present participle and gerund of get across.

Words near getting across in the dictionary

  1. getting a word in edgeways
  2. getting a word in edgewise
  3. getting a wriggle on
  4. getting about
  5. getting above oneself
  6. getting across
  7. getting across the line
  8. getting after
  9. getting ahead
  10. getting ahead of
  11. getting ahead of oneself

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: getting across (page history and authors); get across (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.

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Cite this entry: “getting across.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/getting_across. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.