Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Moving by; going past: The child waved to the passing cars.
- adj. Of brief duration; transitory: a passing fancy.
- adj. Cursory or superficial; casual: a passing glance.
- adj. Allowing one to pass a test, course of study, inspection, or examination; satisfactory: a passing grade.
- adj. Archaic Very or great; surpassing: "'Tis a passing shame” ( Shakespeare).
- adv. Very; surpassingly: "I will mention only one particular aspect of the current mess because ... this one is surely something new and passing strange” ( Walker Percy).
- n. The act of one that passes or the fact of having passed: the passing of another summer.
- n. A place where or a means by which one can pass.
- n. Death.
- idiom. in passing While going by; incidentally.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act of moving on or by; also, the act of departing; dying.
- n. Passage; ratification; enactment.
- n. A gold or silver thread or fine cord produced by twisting a flat and very small ribbon of the metal spirally around a silk thread. Passing is used in embroidery, in couched work, and the like, laid on the foundation and sewed to it with fine silk thread.
- That is or are now happening; current: as, passing events; the passing hour.
- Cursory; such as is done, given, etc., while one passes: as, a passing glance.
- Fleeting; fading away.
- Exceeding; surpassing; transcendent; egregious; eminent; extraordinary.
- Surpassingly; wonderfully: exceedingly; very.
- Exceeding; beyond; over.
Wiktionary
- adv. Surpassingly, greatly, quite.
- n. A death.
- n. A form of juggling where several people pass props between each other, usually clubs or rings.
- v. present participle of pass.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act of one who, or that which, passes; the act of going by or away.
- adj. Relating to the act of passing or going; going by, beyond, through, or away; departing.
- adj. Exceeding; surpassing, eminent.
- adv. Exceedingly; excessively; surpassingly.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
- n. success in satisfying a test or requirement
- adj. of advancing the ball by throwing it
- n. the end of something
- n. the motion of one object relative to another
- n. a bodily reaction of changing from one place or stage to another
- adj. allowing you to pass (e.g., an examination or inspection) satisfactorily
- adj. lasting a very short time
- n. (American football) a play that involves one player throwing the ball to a teammate
- adv. to an extreme degree
- n. euphemistic expressions for death
- n. going by something that is moving in order to get in front of it
Examples
“And now one had touched him so completely that a mere glance over her shoulder without a word passing between them had made him follow her.”
“Mentioned in passing is the kids 'multi-racial background: Dad is black, mom was white.”
“And yes, accusing someone of "intergalactic war-mongering" even in passing is one and only one thing:”
First Look: G.I. Joe's Scarlett Revealed! « FirstShowing.net
“But like David Lynch and Jack Kerouac, Callahan, whom I only know in passing, is grossly misunderstood by his fans.”
“Some guy on the radio said so, obviously all of my problems are cured and all of that social pressure he mentioned in passing is miraculously lifted!”
“To Polly, what he reveals in passing is a world where drunken riot was frequent, and sensibility about what crime is serious was very different.”
“I only knew Bill in passing from the pre-Outpost days when he held court at noon on Fridays at the Elks. He was a natural leader as well as a civic leader and a take charge kind of guy.”
“Ensign Rusconi had relieved Wong without a word passing between them, and the young woman now held the da Vinci steady as it hurtled back through Federation space at warp 9.6.”
“Without a word passing among them, Ivan then took a position at the head, Udele the torso and Jen the legs.”
“Yet we had no choice but to continue, and without a word passing between us we began to walk, myself in front with one of the rifles, then Sebastian, followed by the three Kuna.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘passing’.
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One word book titles
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milosrdenstvi Probably true. I was actually unsure. Note that my examples can be construed either way. Aug 21, 2008
reesetee It's passing strange, but I do like the phrase "passing strange." :-) Aug 21, 2008
Prolagus Really? Good to know. Apparently, it had the opposite meaning in the past (no. 5). Aug 21, 2008
milosrdenstvi Useful as a modifier of intensity: "passing strange that the moon should be purple to-night!" "That's passing early for Joe to be awake." Aug 21, 2008
slumry surpassingly Aug 1, 2007