Word.ws English Dictionary

passing the baton

passing the baton is the present participle and gerund of pass the baton.

Meaning of pass the baton

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

Questions about passing the baton

What is passing the baton the present participle and gerund of?
Passing the baton is the present participle and gerund of pass the baton.

Words near passing the baton in the dictionary

  1. passing shot
  2. passing shots
  3. passing show
  4. passing shows
  5. passing the bar
  6. passing the baton
  7. passing the bottle of smoke
  8. passing the buck
  9. passing the hat
  10. passing the mantle
  11. passing the phone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: passing the baton (page history and authors); 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: “passing the baton.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/passing_the_baton. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.