Synonyms of passing

passing 1 of 4

adjective

as in flash

lasting only for a short time

his parents were willing to buy him a piano if he demonstrated that his interest in music was more than a passing fancy

Synonyms & Similar Words

• flash
• brief
• temporary
• transient
• short
• fleeting
• momentary
• transitory
• ephemeral
• little
• evanescent
• deciduous
• short-lived
• fugitive
• fugacious
• acting
• impermanent
• interim
• short-term
• provisional
• shortish

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• permanent
• lasting
• enduring
• eternal
• endless
• unending
• immortal
• everlasting
• perpetual
• timeless
• undying
• ceaseless
• deathless
• lifelong
• persistent
• continuing
• durable
• long-lived
• dateless
• indestructible
• imperishable
• indefectible

passing

2 of 4

noun

ˈpa-siŋ 

as in death

the permanent stopping of all the vital bodily activities

the precise moment of his passing was recorded by the machines at his bedside

Synonyms & Similar Words

• death
• demise
• fate
• doom
• passage
• dissolution
• exit
• expiration
• end
• grave
• decease
• sleep
• curtains
• expiry
• suicide
• great divide
• destruction
• quietus
• assassination
• fatality
• ending
• execution
• casualty
• killing
• martyrdom
• annihilation
• slaughter
• massacre
• extermination
• ruin
• self-destruction
• self-slaughter
• self-murder

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• birth
• life
• existence
• creation
• rise
• nativity
• genesis
• origination

passing

3 of 4

adverb

as in very

to a great degree

a passing strange turn of events

Synonyms & Similar Words

• very
• extremely
• incredibly
• damn
• terribly
• too
• damned
• so
• highly
• badly
• far
• desperately
• that
• really
• severely
• full
• especially
• seriously
• greatly
• such
• exceeding
• most
• real
• jolly
• much
• super
• wildly
• heavily
• particularly
• extra
• way
• roaring
• intensely
• cracking
• good and
• mighty
• rattling
• specially
• exceptionally
• thumping
• awful
• fiercely
• whacking
• immensely
• deadly
• exceedingly
• bone
• wicked
• awfully
• absolutely
• monstrous
• vitally
• hugely
• corking
• almighty
• dang
• sore
• fantastically
• enormously
• uncommonly
• sorely
• a lot
• totally
• ever
• surpassingly
• fabulously
• supremely
• remarkably
• completely
• frightfully
• achingly
• stinking
• thoroughly
• mortally
• utterly
• positively
• spanking
• deeply
• eminently
• vastly
• filthy
• significantly
• entirely
• right
• beastly
• archly
• mightily
• colossally
• majorly
• roaringly
• as all get-out
• considerably
• noticeably
• blisteringly
• visibly
• wholly
• unco
• notably
• substantially
• fully
• purely
• obviously
• profoundly
• downright
• flat-out
• radically
• extensively
• altogether
• markedly
• appreciably
• palpably
• discernibly
• excessively
• plainly
• obscenely
• grandly
• monumentally
• astronomically
• abundantly
• astonishingly
• plentifully
• overmuch
• monstrously
• amazingly
• staggeringly

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• little
• somewhat
• slightly
• nominally
• just
• negligibly
• barely
• scarcely
• hardly
• marginally
• minimally
• meagerly
• scantily

passing

4 of 4

verb

present participle of pass

1

as in handing

to shift possession of (something) from one person to another

could you please pass me the phone?

Synonyms & Similar Words

• handing
• reaching
• transferring
• giving
• carrying
• bucking
• handing over
• relaying
• handling
• rendering
• delivering
• bearing
• yielding
• releasing
• surrendering
• fingering
• relinquishing
• pawing
• turning over
• giving up
• ceding

2

as in stopping

to come to an end

eventually, the storm passed

Synonyms & Similar Words

• stopping
• ending
• expiring
• halting
• concluding
• ceasing
• dying
• finishing
• closing
• terminating
• going
• lapsing
• determining
• elapsing
• stalling
• discontinuing
• breaking off
• leaving off
• winking (out)
• winding up
• quitting
• breaking up
• letting up
• dead-ending
• biting the dust
• pausing
• suspending
• refraining (from)
• staying
• laying off (of)
• packing (up or in)
• cutting out
• knocking off
• giving over
• breaking down
• desisting (from)
• winding down
• abating
• conking (out)
• petering (out)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• continuing
• persisting
• hanging on
• extending
• prolonging
• drawing out
• protracting

3

as in leaving

to put (something) into the possession or safekeeping of another

pass your forms to the department head once they're filled out

Synonyms & Similar Words

• handing
• leaving
• giving
• transferring
• delivering
• delegating
• transmitting
• relinquishing
• commending
• granting
• entrusting
• recommending
• confiding
• committing
• trusting
• consigning
• reposing
• loaning
• intrusting
• vesting
• turning over
• submitting
• distributing
• handing over
• conferring
• bequeathing
• assigning
• lending
• dividing
• giving over
• dispensing
• dispersing
• dealing (out)
• supplying
• furnishing
• surrendering
• advancing
• yielding
• releasing
• turning in
• handing down
• willing
• handing in
• handing on
• retransmitting
• retransferring
• redelivering
• recommitting

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• holding
• keeping
• retaining
• receiving
• possessing
• reserving
• withholding
• owning
• accepting
• taking
• holding back
• occupying
• detaining
• taking in
• taking over

4

as in enacting

to put into effect through legislative or authoritative action

Congress cannot pass any law restricting free speech

Synonyms & Similar Words

• enacting
• approving
• constituting
• legislating
• making
• laying down
• dictating
• ordaining
• authorizing
• effecting
• permitting
• repassing
• ratifying
• bringing about
• proclaiming
• sanctioning
• executing
• reenacting
• administering
• decreeing
• allowing
• confirming

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• repealing
• revoking
• killing
• abolishing
• invalidating
• reversing
• cancelling
• canceling
• rescinding
• overturning
• nullifying
• annulling
• abrogating
• voiding

5

as in happening

to take place

and the destruction of the town came to pass, just as the seer had predicted

Synonyms & Similar Words

• happening
• being
• coming
• occurring
• doing
• coming down
• cooking
• coming off
• transpiring
• going on
• coming about
• going down
• chancing
• betiding
• rising
• happing
• coming to pass
• befalling
• developing
• arising
• intervening
• proceeding
• shaping (up)
• resulting
• following
• materializing
• breaking
• coming up
• springing (up)
• cropping (up)
• falling out
• turning out
• going off

6

as in experiencing

to come to a knowledge of (something) by living through it

a presidential candidate who doesn't yet know how it feels to pass the scrutiny of the national press

Synonyms & Similar Words

• experiencing
• undergoing
• having
• enduring
• seeing
• knowing
• feeling
• witnessing
• suffering
• sustaining
• receiving
• going through
• tasting
• encountering
• accepting
• meeting
• digesting
• assimilating

7

as in uttering

to express (a thought or emotion) in words

he'll occasionally pass some insightful comment, but in general he doesn't have much to contribute

Synonyms & Similar Words

• uttering
• talking
• saying
• telling
• speaking
• discussing
• sharing
• stating
• giving
• articulating
• putting
• announcing
• verbalizing
• bringing out
• vocalizing
• posting
• enunciating
• shouting
• publishing
• looking
• voicing
• whispering
• declaring
• putting into words
• affirming
• proclaiming
• promulgating
• airing
• blazing
• sounding
• broadcasting
• blurting
• ventilating
• publicizing
• breathing
• advertising
• commenting
• getting off
• asserting
• gasping
• venting
• murmuring
• remarking
• bolting
• alleging
• shooting
• chirping
• formulating
• mouthing
• spouting
• drawling
• blabbering
• spluttering
• averring
• purring
• clothing
• avowing
• wording
• phrasing
• snarling
• couching
• avouching
• ripping (out)
• lipping
• formulizing
• piping up (with)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• suppressing
• stifling

8

as in refusing

to show unwillingness to accept, do, engage in, or agree to

we appreciate the invitation to the party, but we'll have to pass

I'll pass on the coffee

Synonyms & Similar Words

• refusing
• rejecting
• declining
• ignoring
• avoiding
• denying
• disapproving
• spurning
• vetoing
• dismissing
• forbidding
• withdrawing
• turning down
• passing up
• throwing over
• disputing
• balking (at)
• repudiating
• deselecting
• reprobating
• prohibiting
• throwing out
• nixing
• negativing
• scouting
• overruling
• disdaining
• proscribing
• rebuffing
• scorning
• turning one's back on
• retracting
• revoking
• recalling
• blowing off
• renouncing
• bypassing
• disclaiming
• detouring
• sticking
• shooting down
• abstaining (from)
• refraining (from)
• contradicting
• taking back
• disavowing
• recanting
• negating
• refuting
• foreswearing
• forbearing
• disproving
• disowning
• unsaying
• controverting
• abjuring
• disallowing
• forswearing
• disagreeing (with)
• backtracking
• rebutting
• gainsaying
• backing down
• backing off
• reneging

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• approving
• accepting
• receiving
• agreeing (to)
• taking
• swallowing
• adopting
• tolerating
• embracing
• welcoming
• agreeing
• selecting
• condoning
• assenting
• consenting
• choosing
• supporting
• countenancing
• acceding
• acquiescing
• espousing
• handpicking

9

as in flying

to withstand scrutiny and gain acceptance or approval

the finished product isn't perfect, but it will pass

Synonyms & Similar Words

• flying
• working
• washing
• standing up
• playing
• taking
• holding water
• holding up
• passing muster
• going down
• going over
• getting through
• going through

Examples of passing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

From her early start on Wall Street to becoming the original influencer, Stewart continues to reinvent herself with each passing decade. —Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 30 July 2024

With every passing year, status quo spending on natural gas pipelines does nothing to fight sky-high gas bills for Marylanders and openly contradicts the state’s climate goals. —Shawn Kelly, Baltimore Sun, 23 July 2024

Noun

After his father's passing, continuing on in leadership was challenging. —Arlyssa D. Becenti, The Arizona Republic, 16 Aug. 2024

Both cases were still pending at the time of his passing, The Post confirms. —Jessica Bennett, VIBE.com, 15 Aug. 2024

Phrases Containing passing

• in passing