• IPA: /pɑːs/
  • (RP, South Africa) IPA: [pʰɑːs]
  • (AU, New Zealand) IPA: [pʰäːs], [pʰɐːs]
  • (Boston) IPA: [pʰaːs]
• IPA: /pæs/
  • (GA, Canada) IPA: [pʰæs], [pʰɛəs], [pʰeəs]
  • (Ireland, Northern England) IPA: [pʰas], [pʰæs]
  • (Scotland) IPA: [pʰäs]
  • (New York) IPA: [pʰeə̯s]

pass (passes, present participle passing; past and past participle passed)

1. To change place.
   1. (intransitive) To move or be moved from one place to another.

      They passed from room to room.

      Synonyms: go, move

   2. (transitive) To go past, by, over, or through; to proceed from one side to the other of; to move past.

      You will pass a house on your right.

      Synonyms: overtake, pass by, pass over

   3. (ditransitive) To cause to move or go; to send; to transfer from one person, place, or condition to another; to transmit; to deliver; to hand; to make over.

      The waiter passed biscuits and cheese.

      John passed Suzie a note.

      The torch was passed from hand to hand.

      • 1705 (revised 1718), Joseph Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy

        I had only time to pass my eye over the medals.

      • Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon

        Waller passed over five thousand horse and foot by Newbridge.

      Synonyms: deliver, give, hand, make over, send, transfer, transmit
   4. (intransitive, transitive, medicine) To eliminate (something) from the body by natural processes.

      He was passing blood in both his urine and his stool.

      The poison had been passed by the time of the autopsy.

      Synonyms: evacuate, void

   5. (transitive, nautical) To take a turn with (a line, gasket, etc.), as around a sail in furling, and make secure.
   6. (sport) To kick (the ball) with precision rather than at full force.
      1. (transitive, football) To kick (the ball) with precision rather than at full force.
         • 20 June 2010, The Guardian ↗, Rob Smyth

           Iaquinta passes it coolly into the right-hand corner as Paston dives the other way.

      2. (transitive) To move (the ball or puck) to a teammate.
      3. (intransitive, fencing) To make a lunge or swipe.

         Synonyms: thrust

      4. (intransitive, American football) To throw the ball, generally downfield, towards a teammate.

         The Patriots passed on third and long.

   7. (intransitive) To go from one person to another.
   8. (transitive) To put in circulation; to give currency to.

      pass counterfeit money

      Synonyms: circulate, pass around

   9. (transitive) To cause to obtain entrance, admission, or conveyance.

      pass a person into a theater or over a railroad

      Synonyms: admit, let in, let past

2. To change in state or status
   1. (intransitive) To progress from one state to another; to advance.

      He passed from youth into old age.

   2. (intransitive) To depart, to cease, to come to an end.

      At first, she was worried, but that feeling soon passed.

      • Beauty is a charm, but soon the charm will pass.

      • 1995, Penny Richards, The Greatest Gift of All:

        The crisis passed as she'd prayed it would, but it remained to be seen just how much damage had been done.

   3. (intransitive) To die.

      His grandmother passed yesterday.

      Synonyms: pass away, pass on, pass over, Thesaurus:die

   4. (intransitive, transitive) To achieve a successful outcome from.

      He passed his examination.

      He attempted the examination, but did not expect to pass.

   5. (intransitive, transitive) To advance through all the steps or stages necessary to become valid or effective; to obtain the formal sanction of (a legislative body).

      Despite the efforts of the opposition, the bill passed.

      The bill passed both houses of Congress.

      The bill passed the Senate, but did not pass in the House.

      Synonyms: be accepted by, be passed by

   6. (intransitive, legal) To be conveyed or transferred by will, deed, or other instrument of conveyance.

      The estate passes by the third clause in Mr Smith's deed to his son.

      When the old king passed away with only a daughter as an heir, the throne passed to a woman for the first time in centuries.

   7. (transitive) To cause to advance by stages of progress; to carry on with success through an ordeal, examination, or action; specifically, to give legal or official sanction to; to ratify; to enact; to approve as valid and just.

      He passed the bill through the committee.

      • 1855, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number(s))”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], OCLC 1013215631 ↗:

        Pass the happy news.

      Synonyms: approve, enact, ratify
   8. (intransitive, legal) To make a judgment on or upon a person or case.
      • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X:

        And within three dayes twelve knyghtes passed uppon hem; and they founde Sir Palomydes gylty, and Sir Saphir nat gylty, of the lordis deth.

   9. (transitive) To utter; to pronounce; to pledge.
      • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter XII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes, volume (please specify ), London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292 ↗, book XIX:

      • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost

        Father, thy word is passed.

      Synonyms: pronounce, say, speak, utter
   10. (intransitive) To change from one state to another (without the implication of progression).
3. To move through time.
   1. (intransitive, of time) To elapse, to be spent.

      Their vacation passed pleasantly.

      Synonyms: elapse, go by, Thesaurus:elapse

   2. (transitive, of time) To spend.

      What will we do to pass the time?

      • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost

        To pass commodiously this life.

      • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, OCLC 7780546 ↗; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], OCLC 2666860 ↗, page 0056 ↗:

        Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.

   3. (transitive) To go by without noticing; to omit attention to; to take no note of; to disregard.
      • c. 1608–1609, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene ii]:

        Please you that I may pass / This doing.

      • I pass their warlike pomp, their proud array.

      Synonyms: disregard, ignore, take no notice of, Thesaurus:ignore
   4. (intransitive) To continue.

      Synonyms: continue, go on

   5. (intransitive) To proceed without hindrance or opposition.

      You're late, but I'll let it pass.

   6. (transitive) To live through; to have experience of; to undergo; to suffer.
      • c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene iii]:

        Please you that I may pass / This doing.

      Synonyms: bear, endure, suffer, tolerate, undergo, Thesaurus:tolerate

   7. (intransitive) To happen.

      It will soon come to pass.

      • 1876, The Dilemma, Chapter LIII, republished in Littell's Living Age, series 5, volume 14, page 274:

        […] for the memory of what passed while at that place is almost blank.

      Synonyms: happen, occur, Thesaurus:happen
4. To be accepted.
   1. (intransitive) To be tolerated as a substitute for something else, to "do".

      It isn't ideal, but it will pass.

   2. (sociology) To be accepted by others as a member of a race, sex or other group to which they would not otherwise regard one as belonging (or belonging fully, without qualifier); especially to live and be known as white although one has black ancestry, or to live and be known as female although one was assigned male or vice versa.

      • quote en

      • 1999, Irene Preiss, Fixed for Life: The True Saga of How Tom Became Sally, page 249:

        [...] a situation where I had to know whether I could pass as a woman, and not tell anyone, and not be asked what I was doing dressed as a woman.

5. (intransitive) In any game, to decline to play in one's turn.
   1. (intransitive) In euchre, to decline to make the trump.
6. To do or be better.
   1. (intransitive, obsolete) To go beyond bounds; to surpass; to be in excess.
      • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry VViues of VVindsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene ii]:

        This passes, Master Ford.

      Synonyms: exceed, surpass

   2. (transitive) To transcend; to surpass; to excel; to exceed.

      • And strive to pass […] Their native music by her skillful art.

      • Whose tender power Passes the strength of storms in their most desolate hour.

      Synonyms: better, exceed, excel, outdo, surpass, transcend, Thesaurus:exceed
7. (intransitive, obsolete) To take heed.
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not.

   Synonyms: take heed, take notice, Thesaurus:pay attention

• (go from one limit to the other of) spend
• (promise) pledge, promise, vow

• French: passer
• Italian: passare
• Portuguese: passar
• Russian: проходи́ть
• Spanish: pasar

• French: dépasser
• Russian: проходить
• Spanish: pasar

• French: passer
• Portuguese: passar
• Russian: переехать
• Spanish: pasar

• French: passer
• Spanish: pasar

• French: mourir, décéder, (colloquial) avaler son extrait de naissance, (colloquial) casser sa pipe
• Portuguese: falecer
• Russian: (formal) сконча́ться
• Spanish: fallecer

• French: survenir
• German: passieren
• Spanish: pasar, ocurrir, suceder

• French: passer
• German: vergehen
• Portuguese: passar
• Russian: проходи́ть

• French: passer
• Russian: переходи́ть
• Spanish: pasar

• French: passer
• Spanish: pasar

• French: réussir, passer
• German: bestehen
• Portuguese: passar
• Russian: проходи́ть
• Spanish: pasar, (exam) aprobar

• French: passer
• Spanish: pasar

• French: continuer
• Spanish: pasar

• French: (informal) passer
• Spanish: pasar

• French: passer son tour
• Portuguese: passar

• French: passer
• German: vorbeigehen
• Italian: passare
• Portuguese: passar
• Russian: проходи́ть
• Spanish: pasar

• French: passer

• Portuguese: passar
• Spanish: pasar

pass (plural passes)

1. An opening, road, or track, available for passing; especially, one through or over some dangerous or otherwise impracticable barrier such as a mountain range; a passageway; a defile; a ford.

   a mountain pass

   • "Try not the pass!" the old man said.

   Synonyms: gap
2. A channel connecting a river or body of water to the sea, for example at the mouth (delta) of a river.

   the passes of the Mississippi

3. A single movement, especially of a hand, at, over or along anything.
   • 1921, John Griffin, "Trailing the Grizzly in Oregon", in Forest and Stream, pages 389-391 and 421-424, republished by Jeanette Prodgers in 1997 in The Only Good Bear is a Dead Bear, page 35:

     [The bear] made a pass at the dog, but he swung out and above him […]

4. A single passage of a tool over something, or of something over a tool.

   Synonyms: transit

5. An attempt.

   My first pass at a career of writing proved unsuccessful.

6. Success in an examination or similar test.

   I gained three passes at A-level, in mathematics, French, and English literature.

7. (fencing) A thrust or push; an attempt to stab or strike an adversary.

   Synonyms: thrust

8. (figuratively) A thrust; a sally of wit.
9. A sexual advance.

   The man kicked his friend out of the house after he made a pass at his wife.

10. (sports) The act of moving the ball or puck from one player to another.
11. (rail transport) A passing of two trains in the same direction on a single track, when one is put into a siding to let the other overtake it.

    Antonyms: meet

12. Permission or license to pass, or to go and come.
    • :

      A ship sailing under the flag and pass of an enemy.

    Synonyms: access, admission, entry
13. A document granting permission to pass or to go and come; a passport; a ticket permitting free transit or admission

    a railroad pass; a theater pass; a military pass

14. (baseball) An intentional walk.

    Smith was given a pass after Jones' double.

15. The state of things; condition; predicament; impasse.
    • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene iv]:

      What, have his daughters brought him to this pass?

    • Matters have been brought to this pass, that, if one among a man's sons had any blemish, he laid him aside for the ministry...

    Synonyms: condition, predicament, state
16. (obsolete) Estimation; character.
    • c. 1604–1605, William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene v]:

      This passes, Master Ford.

17. (obsolete, Chaucer) A part, a division. Compare passus.
18. (cookery) The area in a restaurant kitchen where the finished dishes are passed from the chefs to the waiting staff.
19. An act of declining to play one's turn in a game, often by saying the word "pass".

    A pass would have seen her win the game, but instead she gave a wrong answer and lost a point, putting her in second place.

20. (computing) A run through a document as part of a translation, compilation or reformatting process.

    Most Pascal compilers process source code in a single pass.

• French: passe, passage, défilé
• German: Pass
• Portuguese: passagem
• Russian: перева́л
• Spanish: paso, pasaje

• French: passage

• French: état

• German: Passierschein (license to pass), Dauerkarte (theater, transportation), Zeitfahrkarte (transportation), Zeitkarte (transportation)

• French: laissez-passer, sauf-conduit
• Portuguese: passe

pass (plural passes)

1. (computing, slang) A password (especially one for a restricted-access website).

   Anyone want to trade passes?

   • 1999, "Jonny Durango", IMPORTANT NEWS FOR AHM IRC CHAN!!! (on newsgroup alt.hackers.malicious)

     If you don't have your password set within a week I'll remove you from the userlist and I'll add you again next time I see you in the chan and make sure you set a pass.

pass

1. (education) Initialism of positive alternative to school suspension