go-to
noun
a reliable person or thing one turns to as a preferred resource, strategy, option, etc..
go-to
American
[goh-too]
/ ˈgoʊˌtu /
noun
-
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.
adjective
-
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.
go to
British
verb
-
to be awarded to
the Nobel prize last year went to a Scot
-
to tackle a task vigorously
interjection
adjective
go to
Idioms
-
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]
Etymology
Origin of go-to
First recorded in 1980–85
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:
"Historically it used to be the go-to for community officers to staff response cars in a shortage, that isn't the case now," he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
But streaming platforms now rival, and in some cases, surpass broadcast TV as a go-to form of entertainment, particularly among the younger viewers that the TV Academy hopes to engage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Friend of Slate Jay Willis, the editor in chief of Balls & Strikes, writes about the devolution of SCOTUSblog, the go-to outlet for Supreme Court news for nearly a quarter century.
From Slate ● Oct. 1, 2026
If she's ever feeling bloated, Abbey Alexandra has a go-to routine, using body oil and a wooden roller to perform stomach massages.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
I used to bust out crying all the time, and that was always their go-to line—see Ms. Lawrence.
From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
Now off I go to tell my son the answer is still no - and the experts say the same.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
After a similar flood of messages, a Chinese-American student named Winston Lee at the University of Pennsylvania added a disclaimer to his LinkedIn profile: "I do not go to Cornell."
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
“I loved her so much, and the thought that I might go to jail now for something that I had no control over — she wouldn’t want that, you know?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
Zhang’s parents, born in the 1970s, didn’t go to university and were assigned government-related jobs that they still have.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
So I stand up and reassure her, out loud, that I will not go to the old man’s house.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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.
