as in refuses
to show unwillingness to accept, do, engage in, or agree to
I must pass up the offer to be chairman of this event
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Recent Examples of passes up
Graham fired a shot from just outside the box after a series of one-touch passes up the middle of the field.
—
Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2026
Graham fired a shot from just outside the box after a series of one-touch passes up the middle of the field.
—ABC News, 23 May 2026
Tampa Bay passes up on a few top edge rushers here (Miami’s Akheem Mesidor and Auburn’s Keldric Faulk) because of the depth at the position and instead nabs McCoy before a few other corner-needy teams.
—Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 23 Apr. 2026
And because Amazon never passes up an opportunity to throw a good sale, members just got extra lucky.
—Jasmine Gomez, Travel + Leisure, 15 Mar. 2026
McVay passes up the field goal and Stanford throws incomplete again.
—Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas Morning News, 27 Jan. 2026
Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2026
Graham fired a shot from just outside the box after a series of one-touch passes up the middle of the field.
—ABC News, 23 May 2026
Tampa Bay passes up on a few top edge rushers here (Miami’s Akheem Mesidor and Auburn’s Keldric Faulk) because of the depth at the position and instead nabs McCoy before a few other corner-needy teams.
—Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 23 Apr. 2026
And because Amazon never passes up an opportunity to throw a good sale, members just got extra lucky.
—Jasmine Gomez, Travel + Leisure, 15 Mar. 2026
McVay passes up the field goal and Stanford throws incomplete again.
—Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas Morning News, 27 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for passes up
Verb
-
The film exists because the dead deserve to be witnessed and because the families inside Iran, who cannot speak, deserve someone outside who refuses to forget.—
Anna Tingley,
Variety,
2 June 2026
-
Walt asks Jesse to kill him, but Jesse refuses and tells him to do it himself.—
Brianna Zigler,
Entertainment Weekly,
2 June 2026
Verb
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By the time a debt collector calls or a lender rejects your loan, an identity thief may have been using your information for months.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
2 June 2026
-
Pamela, a servant, rejects the advances of her wealthy employer and thereby induces him to marry her.—
Becca Rothfeld,
New Yorker,
1 June 2026
Verb
-
When a substantial fraction of that talent pool declines even to consider military service, no signing bonus will close the gap.—
Robert Krasner,
STAT,
1 June 2026
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And yet there's been no change in women's biology, or the age at which fertility declines.—
Lesley Stahl,
CBS News,
31 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Passes up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/passes%20up. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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