going

noun go·ing \ ˈgō-iŋ , ˈgȯ(-)iŋ \

Definition of going

1 :an act or instance of going

2 goings plural :behavior, actions

for his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings
—Job 34:21 (King James Version)

3 :the condition of the ground (as for walking)

4 :advance toward an objective

when the going gets tough

See going defined for English-language learners

See going defined for kids

Examples of going in a Sentence

Debris in the street made the going difficult.
The going got better as we neared the town.
She wrote four books in two years, and that's pretty good going by any standards!

Recent Examples of going from the Web

BYU players already had a chance to get the going-against-someone-else jitters out of the way.

— andrew lopez, NOLA.com, "LSU players ready to go up against someone other than each other," 29 Aug. 2017
Lynn Whitfield, who plays matriarch Lady Mae Greenleaf, feels viewers are more interested in the family dynamic of the show, instead of the goings-on within the church.

— nathan paige, cleveland.com, "NABJ 2017 Convention: Shemar Moore; 'Greenleaf,' 'Black Lightning,' 'Queen Sugar' among entertainment panel discussions," 22 Aug. 2017
Think of it as a grown-up, modern take on the going-out top.

— indya brown, The Cut, "Everyone Needs a Hero Blouse," 21 Aug. 2017
Some teams look completely different than a season ago - Kathy Goings hung up the clipboard after more than 20 years at Aledo and nearly 650 wins to watch daughter Maddie Goings (Star-Telegram Player of the Year) play at Oregon State.

— brian gosset, star-telegram, "High school volleyball preview: Players to watch as teams look to state in November," 4 Aug. 2017
The Mason Police Department released its 2016 Annual Report, highlighting the comings and goings of the department Wednesday.

— sarah brookbank, Cincinnati.com, "See what the Mason Police Department was up to last year," 26 July 2017
This is not the first time Lewinsky has provided valuable public commentary about Carter family goings-on.

— anna silman, The Cut, "For Some Reason, Monica Lewinsky Has Weighed in on the Jay-Z Cheating Rumors," 20 July 2017
Eventually, the United States cracked a secret code the spies used to communicate with Moscow, allowing the FBI to learn more about the Guryevs' comings and goings.

— thom patterson, CNN, "The Russian spies living next door," 19 July 2017
Those were among the significant goings-on in women's fourth-round action at the All England Club on Monday, when another topic took hold: Why were so few of these matches played on the tournament's biggest courts?

— howard fendrich, courant.com, "Williams Vs. Ostapenko At Wimbledon As Court Questions Arise," 10 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'going.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of going

14th century

going Synonyms

Synonyms

advancement, furtherance, advance, headway, march, onrush, passage, process, procession, progress, progression

Antonyms

recess, recession, regress, regression, retreat, retrogression

Related Words

current, drift, flow, flux, stream, way; advent, approach, arrival, coming, nearing; bound, jump, leap, step, stride; impetus, momentum

Near Antonyms

backwash, ebb, reflux; retraction, return, reversal, reverse; about-face, turnabout, turnaround

going

adjective

Definition of going

1 a :that goes —often used in combination

easygoing

outgoing

b :working, moving

everything was in going order

2 :living, existing

the best novelist going

3 :current, prevailing

going price

4 :conducting business with the expectation of indefinite continuance

a going concern

— going on

:drawing near to :approaching

is six years old going on seven

See going defined for English-language learners

Examples of going in a Sentence

He's the best novelist going.
what's the going price for a good used washing machine?

Recent Examples of going from the Web

The original asking price of $28 million was considered well above the going rate, and ethics experts worried that a buyer would be incentivized to overpay for the property to curry favor with the president.

— james hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Jeff Flake delivers the most courageous conservative rebuttal of Trumpism yet," 2 Aug. 2017
The leasing rate for the space is far above the going rate for a similar space in Manhattan, making it among the most expensive rentals in the Big Apple.

— Fox News, "Trump Tower to house Pentagon unit for $130G per month," 19 July 2017
At the heart of that era from a musical standpoint was the easy-going and gentle sound that Denver personified.

— chuck dauphin, Billboard, "John Denver's 10 Best Songs: Critic's Picks," 16 July 2017
But simply locking him for the going rate is not something to cheer about.

— steven ruiz, USA TODAY, "Will the Raiders end up regretting Carr's mega deal?," 22 June 2017
So there are a lot of balls in the air in this easy-going slice of family life directed by TCU theater department chairman Harry Parker.

— punch shaw, star-telegram, "‘King O’ the Moon’ captures America in 1969," 19 June 2017
In offering a motion to approve the project, Councilman Adrian Fine said that hotel rooms are needed in Palo Alto, where the going rate often exceeds $600 per night.

— jacqueline lee, The Mercury News, "New Palo Alto Marriott hotels will rake in $3.6 million for city yearly," 14 June 2017
Rent for her two-bedroom unit was $824 a month, or about half the going rate for such apartments.

— jeff collins, Orange County Register, "Eviction decline is no solace for thousands of renters losing their homes," 28 May 2017

First Known Use of going

14th century

going Synonyms

Synonyms

conventional, customary, current, popular, prevailing, prevalent, standard, stock, usual

Antonyms

nonstandard, unconventional, unpopular, unusual

Related Words

average, common, everyday, normal, ordinary; regular, routine; epidemic, ubiquitous, universal, widespread; accustomed, wonted; fashionable, in, modish, stylish

Near Antonyms

abnormal, exceptional, extraordinary, uncommon

GOING Defined for English Language Learners

going

noun

Definition of going for English Language Learners

: the act of leaving a place
: the condition of the ground for walking, running, etc.
—used to describe a situation in which you are trying to make progress or do something