as in refusing
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 passing up
Wembanyama has been passing up many reasonable 3-point looks in the preseason and only taking wide-open ones.
—
Jared Weiss, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
Science scores were also mixed between grades, with 5th graders passing up 1%, 8th graders down 2% and high schoolers down 3%.
—Grace Zokovitch, Boston Herald, 30 Sep. 2025
In fact, passing up the Chiefs is the team’s top challenge entering Harbaugh’s second season.
—Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Sep. 2025
Jared Weiss, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
Science scores were also mixed between grades, with 5th graders passing up 1%, 8th graders down 2% and high schoolers down 3%.
—Grace Zokovitch, Boston Herald, 30 Sep. 2025
In fact, passing up the Chiefs is the team’s top challenge entering Harbaugh’s second season.
—Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for passing up
Verb
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The documents included disciplinary information and reportedly showed that Sherrill was barred from walking at her 1994 graduation after refusing to inform on classmates involved in a cheating scandal.—
Martha McHardy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Oct. 2025
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The violations include student-athletes betting on and against their own teams, sharing information with third parties for purposes of sports betting, manipulating scoring or outcomes and/or refusing to participate in the investigation.—
Ryan Canfield,
FOXNews.com,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Others noted the couple who set the no-children boundary shouldn't feel guilty whatsoever for rejecting a guest's request for an exception.—
Rachel Raposas,
PEOPLE,
24 Oct. 2025
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Indeed, throughout the world there’s a growing realization that the way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition.—
James Bickerton,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Contract options exercised for 4 The club exercised contract options on Stephen Afrifa, Zorhan Bassong, Jansen Miller and John Pulskamp, while declining options for Tim Leibold, Nemanja Radoja, Ryan Schewe, Shelton and Mason Toye.—
Daniel Sperry,
Kansas City Star,
23 Oct. 2025
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However, her cousin the followed up, and the OP wrote back declining the invite.—
Charna Flam,
PEOPLE,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Skarsgård has returned to play Pennywise, a villain that King fans agreed the actor embodied to perfection, after initially turning down the chance to continue the character.—
James Hibberd,
HollywoodReporter,
22 Oct. 2025
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But a chat message from Washington to a colleague, released to KUOW and ProPublica last week through a public records request, spells out additional reasons for turning down Daugaard’s proposal.—
Ashley Hiruko,
ProPublica,
6 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Mayfield was 8 of 9 for 144 yards throwing over the middle against a defense that lost Warner on the second defensive series.—
Matt Barrows,
New York Times,
14 Oct. 2025
Verb
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And while Tapestry had hoped to gather learnings on footwear production, word in the shoe market from investment bankers was that its biggest mistake was in throwing out the lasts that the brand’s founder and chief designer had perfected over the years.—
Vicki M. Young,
Footwear News,
23 Sep. 2025
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Although he’s been linked to other teams already, one idea worth throwing out there is Kevin Love.—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
7 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Passing up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/passing%20up. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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