Word.ws English Dictionary

had a go

had a go is the simple past and past participle of have a go.

Meaning of have a go

Verb

have a go (third-person singular simple present has a go, present participle having a go, simple past and past participle had a go)

  1. (Australia, UK, informal, intransitive) To make an attempt; to try.
    • I've never tried karate before, but I'm willing to have a go.
  2. (Australia, UK, idiomatic, informal, intransitive) To attack someone physically; to have a fight.
    • I heard you had a go at Jack the other night.
  3. (Australia, UK, idiomatic, informal, intransitive) To tell off (especially unnecessarily or excessively), to criticise.
    • My teacher had a go at me earlier, just for missing one sodding homework. I was fuming.

Questions about had a go

What is had a go the simple past and past participle of?
Had a go is the simple past and past participle of have a go.

Words near had a go in the dictionary

  1. had a face on
  2. had a few too many
  3. had a fit
  4. had a foot in both camps
  5. had a gas
  6. had a go
  7. had a good mind to
  8. had a good one
  9. had a good time
  10. had a good time of it
  11. had a hand in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: had a go (page history and authors); have 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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Cite this entry: “had a go.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/had_a_go. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.