go straight
go straight verb: to discontinue engaging in criminal acts; to become a law-abiding person.
Verb
go straight (third-person singular simple present goes straight, present participle going straight, simple past went straight, past participle gone straight)
- To discontinue engaging in criminal acts; to become a law-abiding person.
- "Oh," said Jimmy, "if I ever want any one to break into a safe, come to you, huh?"
"You get me," replied the other. . . .
"I should think," said Jimmy, "that a man of your ability could earn a living by less precarious methods." "You would think so," replied the Lizard. "I've tried two or three...1921, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 3, in The Efficiency Expert - [H]e got a law passed threatening them with jail if they did not go straight in the future.1951 September 24, “Mexico: Toward the Perfect State”, in Time
- Synonyms:
- play it straight
- "Oh," said Jimmy, "if I ever want any one to break into a safe, come to you, huh?"
Synonyms of go straight
Forms of go straight
| third-person singular present | goes straight |
|---|---|
| present participle | going straight |
| past | went straight |
| past participle | gone straight |
Questions about go straight
- What does go straight mean?
- Go straight means to discontinue engaging in criminal acts; to become a law-abiding person.
- What part of speech is go straight?
- Go straight is a verb.
- What is the past tense of go straight?
- The past tense of go straight is went straight.
Words near go straight in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: go straight (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-go straight.ogg.
Cite this entry: “go straight.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/go_straight. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.