Word.ws English Dictionary

going by

going by is the present participle and gerund of go by.

Meaning of go by

Verb

go by (third-person singular simple present goes by, present participle going by, simple past went by, past participle gone by)

  1. (intransitive) To pass or go past without much interaction.
    • I like to sit and watch the world go by. The rest of the day went by quickly.
    Synonyms:
    pass by, fly by, forpass, forthglide, overgo, pass, roll on, slip by, transpass
  2. (transitive) To be called, to use as a name.
    • His full name is Ernest Tinkleton, but he goes by Ernie.
  3. (transitive) To suggest or request that other people use a specific set of gender pronouns when referring to the subject.
    • I go by they/them pronouns.
    Synonyms:
    use
  4. (transitive) To follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
    • I'm only going by what my teacher said.
    Synonyms:
    go off

Questions about going by

What is going by the present participle and gerund of?
Going by is the present participle and gerund of go by.

Words near going by in the dictionary

  1. going big or going home
  2. going bonkers
  3. going both ways
  4. going brrr
  5. going bust
  6. going by
  7. going by the board
  8. going by the name of
  9. going by the wayside
  10. going bye-bye
  11. going cahoots

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: going by (page history and authors); go by (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: “going by.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/going_by. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.