following
Americannoun
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a body of followers, attendants, adherents, etc.
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the body of admirers, attendants, patrons, etc., of someone or something.
That television show has a large following.
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the following, that which comes immediately after, as pages, lines, etc..
See the following for a list of exceptions.
adjective
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(prenominal) about to be mentioned, specified, etc
the following items
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( as noun )
will the following please raise their hands?
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(of winds, currents, etc) moving in the same direction as the course of a vessel
noun
preposition
Usage
The use of following to mean as a result of is very common in journalism, but should be avoided in other kinds of writing
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of following
First recorded in 1250–1300, following is from the Middle English word folwing. See follow, -ing 1, -ing 2
Explanation
Following means "coming immediately after," as in: "My birthday was Monday. The following day, I returned the following gifts: a purple cowboy hat, a stuffed aardvark, and huge rubber duckie." To follow is to go after. If you’re watching a TV show, when it’s over you might stay on the couch and watch the following show. As a noun, following can refer to a group of fans or a bunch of people who follow someone in the sense of believing in them. A band might have a large following, and the leader of a cult also has a devoted following. On tests, you're likely to see following used to introduce information or answer choices, as in "Which of the following triangles is an isosceles triangle."
Vocabulary lists containing following
STAAR Grade 6 Reading: The Language of the Test, List 1
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Academic Vocabulary: Core Tier 2 Words, List 7
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STAAR Grade 5 Reading: The Language of the Test, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi canceled his planned trip to Saudi Arabia following the strikes, per a report by Shafaq, a news outlet headquartered in Baghdad, the country’s capital city.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
Commvault provides software that helps businesses protect and restore data following cyber incidents, and the company’s software in the on-premise market is tied to hardware, Merrill says on a call with analysts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
The figure was certainly made up: Over the following weeks it fluctuated up and down, ultimately settling at 57 — also made up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
The Met Office has separately announced that the new June temperature record set last month was even higher than previously thought, following verification processes.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
The directions she had been following were gone.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Still, brands continue to inspire devoted followings from tech evangelists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Creators can build large followings very inexpensively, he said, and their stories arrive further developed — which expedites the development and discovery process.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2026
"Some of them have huge followings, some have tiny followings, but it's interesting to me," he says.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
Because these celebrity exorcists are imbued with a kind of divine authority in their audiences’ minds by their proximity to supernatural matters, their social media followings can be unusually strong and loyal.
From Slate ● Jun. 8, 2026
The different Nationalist groups, the “Buy Black!” forces, and others like that; dozens of their step- ladder orators were trying to increase their followings.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
