Word.ws English Dictionary

pass the baton

pass the baton verb: to pass the torch.

Verb

pass the baton (third-person singular simple present passes the baton, present participle passing the baton, simple past and past participle passed the baton)

  1. (figuratively) To pass the torch.
    • But having now passed on the baton, she expects him to develop his own style of chairmanship and provide strong leadership.2020 June 3, Lilian Greenwood talks to Paul Stephen, “Rail's 'underlying challenges' remain”, in Rail, page 35

Synonyms of pass the baton

Forms of pass the baton

third-person singular presentpasses the baton
present participlepassing the baton
past participlepassed the baton
pastpassed the baton

Questions about pass the baton

What does pass the baton mean?
Pass the baton means to pass the torch.
What part of speech is pass the baton?
Pass the baton is a verb.
What is the past tense of pass the baton?
The past tense of pass the baton is passed the baton.

Words near pass the baton in the dictionary

  1. pass sentence
  2. pass shot
  3. pass shots
  4. pass stool
  5. pass the bar
  6. pass the baton
  7. pass the book
  8. pass the bottle of smoke
  9. pass the buck
  10. pass the hat
  11. pass the mantle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pass the baton (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: “pass the baton.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pass_the_baton. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.