Word.ws English Dictionary

give something a go

give something a go verb: to try or attempt.

Verb

give something a go (third-person singular simple present gives something a go, present participle giving something a go, simple past gave something a go, past participle given something a go)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To try or attempt.
    • Give it a go / You gotta take the time to know / Give it a go / You gotta let the loving show1979, Machine, “Give It A Go”, in Machine
    Synonyms:
    give something a try, give something a whirl, give something the old college try, have a go

Synonyms of give something a go

Forms of give something a go

third-person singular presentgives something a go
present participlegiving something a go
pastgave something a go
past participlegiven something a go

Questions about give something a go

What does give something a go mean?
Give something a go means to try or attempt.
What part of speech is give something a go?
Give something a go is a verb.
What is the past tense of give something a go?
The past tense of give something a go is gave something a go.

Words near give something a go in the dictionary

  1. give someone time
  2. give someone to understand
  3. give someone what for
  4. give someone what-for
  5. give someone wood
  6. give something a go
  7. give something a lash
  8. give something a miss
  9. give something a shot
  10. give something a try
  11. give something a whirl

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: give something a go (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-give something a go.ogg.

Cite this entry: “give something a go.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/give_something_a_go. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.