go for
Britishverb
-
to go somewhere in order to have or fetch
he went for a drink
shall I go for a doctor?
-
to seek to obtain
I'd go for that job if I were you
-
to apply to
what I told him goes for you too
-
to prefer or choose; like
I really go for that new idea of yours
-
to be to the advantage of
you'll have great things going for you in the New Year
-
to make a physical or verbal attack on
-
to be considered to be of a stated importance or value
his twenty years went for nothing when he was made redundant
-
informal to make the maximum effort to achieve a particular goal
-
Go in order to get, as in I'll go for the paper , or He went for the doctor . This usage, dating from the late 1500s, gave rise to the 20th-century noun gofer , a person who is habitually sent on routine errands.
-
Be equivalent to or valued as; also, pass for, serve as. For example, All our efforts are going for very little , or That silver went for a lot of money , or That sofa can go for a bed . [Mid-1500s]
-
Aim or try for, especially making a vigorous effort. For example, They're going for the league championship . This idiom is also put as go for it , as in When Steve said he'd like to change careers, his wife told him to go for it . The related phrase go for broke means “to commit all one's available resources toward achieving a goal,” as in Our competitors are going for broke to get some of our accounts . The first expression dates from the mid-1500s; the two colloquial variants from the first half of the 1900s. Also see all out ; go out for .
-
Attack, as in We have to tie up our dog, because he loves to go for letter carriers . A hyperbolic variant, go for the jugular , is used for an all-out attack on the most vital part, as in In political arguments he always goes for the jugular . The jugular is a blood vessel whose rupture is life-threatening. [ Colloquial ; late 1800s]
-
Have a special liking for, as in I really go for progressive jazz . [ Colloquial ; first half of 1900s]
-
Be valid for or applicable to, as in Kevin hates broccoli, and that goes for Dean, too . [Early 1900s] Also see have going for one .
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.
They don’t agree on whether young or old Elvis should marry them in Las Vegas — they did agree on Las Vegas, at least — so they go for both.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
I’d go for walks with my father, and we wouldn’t say anything for two hours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
On a fourth and one at the Cardinals’ 27-yard line, McVay opted to go for it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026
Hynes says: "In an industry with high fixed costs, the best way of getting the subsidy down is to go for growth."
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
After she had to go for dinner, I powered through homework, then checked my Scrollr dashboard and messages to search for hidden gems.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
