a reliable person or thing one turns to as a preferred resource, strategy, option, etc..
She’s our go-to for computer advice.
This dish is my go-to when I need something quick for a potluck.
a person’s standard way of behaving or responding; reflex.
He’s not trying to impress you—that courtly politeness is his go-to with everybody.
relied on and turned to as a preferred resource, strategy, option, etc., for a particular purpose.
She’s been the team’s go-to penalty kicker all season.
This is my go-to dictionary.
being a person’s standard way of behaving or responding; usual or habitual.
When I tell them to get off the computer, their go-to excuse is that they need it for homework.
to be awarded to
the Nobel prize last year went to a Scot
to tackle a task vigorously
See going to .
Also, go toward . Contribute to a result, as in Can you name the bones that go to make the arms and legs? or The director has a good eye for seeing what will go toward an entire scene . [c. 1600]
Begin, start, as in By the time she went to call, she'd forgotten what she wanted to say . The related idiom go to it means “get started, get going.” P.G. Wodehouse used it in Louder & Funnier (1932): “Stoke up and go to it.” [First half of 1700s]
First recorded in 1980–85
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They live in Monte Alto, in the countryside of São Paulo state, and often go to a neighboring town, Jaboticabal, to see capybaras in the urban wild.
From Slate • May 27, 2026
"I go to the market only to look around because I cannot afford to buy anything. Whenever I ask about prices, I return heartbroken," Nadia Abu Shamala, a Palestinian resident of Gaza, told AFP.
From Barron's • May 27, 2026
The 49-year-old is making plans to go to nursing school.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
"People forget their problems now they are following the Leopards. The team need to go to the second round."
From BBC • May 26, 2026
We could go to a train station with this money.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
