passing
[pas-ing, pah-sing]
- going by or past; elapsing: He was feeling better with each passing day.
- brief, fleeting, or fortuitous; transitory: to take a passing fancy to something.
- done, given, etc., in passing; cursory: a passing mention.
- surpassing, preeminent, or extreme.
- indicating satisfactory performance in a course, on a paper, in a test, etc.: a passing grade on a test.
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- surpassingly; exceedingly; very.
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- in passing, by the way; incidentally: The speaker mentioned his latest book in passing.
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Origin of passing
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
passing
- transitory or momentarya passing fancy
- cursory or casual in action or mannera passing reference
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- archaic to an extreme degreethe events were passing strange
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- a place where or means by which one may pass, cross, ford, etc
- a euphemism for death
- in passing by the way; incidentallyhe mentioned your visit in passing
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for in passing
passing
adv.
"in a (sur)passing degree, surpassingly," late 14c., from pass (v.).
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passing
n.
"death," 1869, verbal noun from pass (v.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with in passing
in passing
Incidentally, by the way, as in “It may be remarked in passing” (Charlotte Brontë, Shirley, 1849). [Mid-1800s]
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.