Word.ws English Dictionary

have it going on

have it going on verb: to be attractive or socially successful or have an aura of success.

Verb

have it going on (third-person singular simple present has it going on, present participle having it going on, simple past and past participle had it going on)

  1. (idiomatic, chiefly African-American Vernacular) To be attractive or socially successful or have an aura of success.
    • The brother did have it going on though. He was 6'4", a copper-tone tan, not too black and not too light, a military career, and was looking for a job […]2000, Cheatie Holeman, The Girl's Got It Going on, page 123
    • Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
      She's all I want and I've waited for so long
      Stacy, can't you see you're just not the girl for me
      I know it might be wrong but I'm in love with Stacy's mom2003, Fountains of Wayne (band), Stacy's Mom (song)
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see have, go on.
    • We might just as well take our stand upon it and fight it out now on both sides of the House as to have it going on and being a perennial sore from year to year.1905, Canadian House of Commons, “Debates: official report”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 1994
    • They have it going on partially, but then it is a day shift of men that works up to 5 and 6 o'clock.1907, United Kingdom House of Commons, “Parliamentary papers”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 249

Forms of have it going on

third-person singular presenthas it going on
present participlehaving it going on
past participlehad it going on
pasthad it going on

Questions about have it going on

What does have it going on mean?
Have it going on means to be attractive or socially successful or have an aura of success.
What part of speech is have it going on?
Have it going on is a verb.
What is the past tense of have it going on?
The past tense of have it going on is had it going on.

Words near have it going on in the dictionary

  1. have it away
  2. have it bad
  3. have it both ways
  4. have it coming
  5. have it easy
  6. have it going on
  7. have it in for
  8. have it in one
  9. have it large
  10. have it made
  11. have it off

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have it going on (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-have it going on.ogg.

Cite this entry: “have it going on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/have_it_going_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.