follow
Americanverb (used with object)
-
follows,
present (3rd person singular)
-
followed,
past participle, past
-
following
present participle
-
to come after in sequence, order of time, etc..
The speech follows the dinner.
- Antonyms:
- precede
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to go or come after; move behind in the same direction.
Drive ahead, and I'll follow you.
- Antonyms:
- lead
-
to accept as a guide or leader; accept the authority of or give allegiance to.
Many Germans followed Hitler.
- Synonyms:
- obey
- Antonyms:
- lead
-
to conform to, comply with, or act in accordance with; obey.
to follow orders; to follow advice.
- Antonyms:
- disregard
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to imitate or copy; use as an exemplar.
They follow the latest fads.
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to move forward along (a road, path, etc.).
Follow this road for a mile.
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to come after as a result or consequence; result from.
Reprisals often follow victory.
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to go after or along with (a person) as companion.
-
to go in pursuit of.
to follow an enemy.
- Antonyms:
- flee
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to try for or attain to.
to follow an ideal.
-
to engage in or be concerned with as a pursuit.
He followed the sea as his true calling.
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to watch the movements, progress, or course of.
to follow a bird in flight.
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to watch the development of or keep up with.
to follow the news.
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Digital Technology. to indicate interest in and establish a connection with (a social media account) so as to keep up with the online content it publishes, as posts, images, or videos.
I follow my friends and some celebrities on Twitter, but nobody who tweets political stuff.
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to keep up with and understand (an argument, story, etc.).
Do you follow me?
verb (used without object)
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follows,
present (3rd person singular)
-
followed,
past participle, past
-
following
present participle
-
to come next after something else in sequence, order of time, etc.
-
to happen or occur after something else; come next as an event.
After the defeat great disorder followed.
-
to attend or serve.
-
to go or come after a person or thing in motion.
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to result as an effect; occur as a consequence.
It follows then that he must be innocent.
noun
-
the act of following.
-
Digital Technology. an instance of following or subscribing to online content published by a social media account.
Using hashtags is one way to get more follows on Instagram.
-
Billiards, Pool. follow shot.
adjective
verb phrase
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follow through
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to carry out fully, as a stroke of a club in golf, a racket in tennis, etc.
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to continue an effort, plan, proposal, policy, etc., to its completion.
-
-
follow up
-
to pursue closely and tenaciously.
-
to increase the effectiveness of by further action or repetition.
-
to pursue to a solution or conclusion.
-
-
follow out to carry to a conclusion; execute.
They followed out their orders to the letter.
idioms
verb
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to go or come after in the same direction
he followed his friend home
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(tr) to accompany; attend
she followed her sister everywhere
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to come after as a logical or natural consequence
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(tr) to keep to the course or track of
she followed the towpath
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(tr) to act in accordance with; obey
to follow instructions
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(tr) to accept the ideas or beliefs of (a previous authority, etc)
he followed Donne in most of his teachings
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to understand (an explanation, argument, etc)
the lesson was difficult to follow
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to watch closely or continuously
she followed his progress carefully
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(tr) to have a keen interest in
to follow athletics
-
(tr) to help in the cause of or accept the leadership of
the men who followed Napoleon
-
(tr) to choose to receive messages posted by (a blogger or microblogger)
I've been following her online
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rare (tr) to earn a living at or in
to follow the Navy
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cards
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to play a card of the same suit as the card played immediately before it
-
to do the same as someone else
-
noun
Synonym Usage
Follow, ensue, result, succeed imply coming after something else, in a natural sequence. Follow is the general word: We must wait to see what follows. A detailed account follows. Ensue implies a logical sequence, what might be expected normally to come after a given act, cause, etc.: When the power lines were cut, a paralysis of transportation ensued. Result emphasizes the connection between a cause or event and its effect, consequence, or outcome: The accident resulted in injuries to those involved. Succeed implies coming after in time, particularly coming into a title, office, etc.: Formerly the oldest son succeeded to his father's title.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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followsimple
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followssimple
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have followedperfect
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has followedperfect
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am followingprogressive
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are followingprogressive
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is followingprogressive
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have been followingperfect progressive
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has been followingperfect progressive
Past
-
followedsimple
-
had followedperfect
-
was followingprogressive
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were followingprogressive
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had been followingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of follow
First recorded before 900; Middle English fol(o)wen, Old English folgian; cognate with Old Saxon folgōn, Old High German folgēn, folgōn ( German folgen )
Explanation
Do you know when orange is the new black? When pleats are in style? Then you must follow fashion — you observe it closely. Follow can also mean you trail along behind someone. You might follow your brother to school. If you follow something, such as line of argument, that means you understand it. If you follow through on something, such as a diet, that means you stick to it. Follow can also describe a sequence of events. Your election as class president might follow a scandal involving your opponent. Follow can also mean something is a logical consequence of something else. It follows that having read these examples you now understand the various meanings of follow. You follow me?
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:
These findings demonstrate that cellular recycling does not follow a single pattern throughout the body.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
Already closely tied to Guam by culture, kinship and trade, the majority of residents wanted to follow their neighbor’s path as a U.S. territory.
From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2026
“I trust in their ability to follow me from across genres.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
But we live in a multiplicity of realms—social, economic, cultural, political, religious—that follow their own logic and cannot be reduced to a single principle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
Their brain injuries usually follow surgery to remove a tumor from deep inside the frontal cortex.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
It follows the ‘70s and ‘80s East L.A. revolutionary art group Asco and the next generation of L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
It follows a decision on Friday by the Secretary of State, Sir Chris Bryant, to ban the march, after receiving police advice.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Research in mice suggests that consuming fat before carbohydrates can reduce the sharp rise in blood sugar that typically follows a meal.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
The Miami meeting follows visits to Moscow and Kyiv last month by Witkoff, a longtime Trump confidant, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, as Washington seeks to revive negotiations that have yielded little progress.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
I know it’s not Theo, I know he wouldn’t do that right now, and sure enough, Aunt Tess’s voice immediately follows the rapping.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Yelich followed with a two-run single to give the Brewers the lead.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Over the past couple of years, Jones has repeatedly warned that the AI trade might end badly in a “blow-off top” followed by a crash, similar to what investors experienced during the dot-com peak.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
A debut TV gig on “The Daily Show” followed soon after.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
With just seven weeks until Qatar, followed by Abu Dhabi the week after, what are the chances both races will go ahead as planned?
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
The screen door clapped shut, followed by a chorus of “Sela!” from inside the kitchen.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
The following year, Dad was cast in the film “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers,” and we moved into a Craftsman house in Los Angeles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Six Flags announced this week that, in addition to the Goliath, it had closed the following similar rides:
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Yet as the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in 2022 to fight inflation, tech stocks started charging higher following OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT in November 2022, as the below chart shows.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
In fact, participants following the microbiome-enhancer diet absorbed fewer net calories than those eating the Western diet, even though the higher-fiber diet supported greater microbial activity and increased short-chain fatty acid production.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
I was afraid to look back to see if the little monkeys were following.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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.
