Word.ws English Dictionary

got after

got after is the simple past of get after.

got after is the past participle of get after.

Meaning of get after

Verb

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

  1. To move into action in pursuit of something.
    • He's wasting time at university not getting after his degree.
  2. To move into action in attempt to catch or defeat another.
    • These murders are an indication of a swing to the right in this country, and also of the economic situation. Americans get after minorities during economic hard times: Blacks, Jews, Catholics. It's our turn because we've been the most vocal lately.1980 August 16, Fran Koski, “Fourth Gay Man Murdered Here”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 5, page 6
  3. To attempt to convince another to move into action.
    • Parents get after their children to do homework for the best.

Questions about got after

What is got after the simple past of?
Got after is the simple past of get after.

Words near got after in the dictionary

  1. got a wriggle on
  2. got about
  3. got above oneself
  4. got across
  5. got across the line
  6. got after
  7. got ahead
  8. got ahead of
  9. got ahead of oneself
  10. got ahold of
  11. got ahold of oneself

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: got after (page history and authors); get after (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: “got after.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/got_after. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.