passing
Americanadjective
-
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.
-
living or being known as a member of a racial, religious, or ethnic group other than one's own, especially living and being known as a white person although of Black ancestry.
Employees with a passing racial identity expressed frequent discomfort in the workplace.
-
Sometimes Offensive. being known or perceived as a gender other than the one assigned at birth.
Passing women who dress and live as men have existed throughout history.
The environment might be safer for a passing trans man than for someone who is obviously transgender.
adverb
noun
-
the act of a person or thing that passes or causes something to pass.
-
a means or place of passage.
idioms
adjective
-
transitory or momentary
a passing fancy
-
cursory or casual in action or manner
a passing reference
adverb
noun
-
a place where or means by which one may pass, cross, ford, etc
-
a euphemism for death
-
by the way; incidentally
he mentioned your visit in passing
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of passing
First recorded in 1275–1325; pass + -ing 1 for the noun senses; pass + -ing 2 ( def. ) for the adjective senses
Explanation
Something that's passing happens very quickly. If you give someone a passing glance, you look so briefly in their direction that you barely see them. Passing is one of those versatile words with many different uses. A passing reference is a light, brief mention of something, and a passing grade is one that's high enough for you to pass a test. As a noun, passing often means "the end of something," like the passing of an era — while the passing of a person means death. When you talk about something "in passing," you mention it in a casual way.
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.
Jack McGrail and Aiyana Da’Briel, staff leaders for the SoLa Live Accelerator program behind the event, seemed to be everywhere at once, passing out wristbands and scribbling on clipboards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
She pointed to two recent Met convictions that turned on relatives passing on information decades later.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
The movie shows this discovery as a tender moment, with only a few days passing and Almásy lying next to Katharine’s recently deceased body, stroking her hair.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
It has also recorded disturbances caused by occasional coronal mass ejections passing over the spacecraft.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
Belle stomps, passing cottonwood trees, their brittle branches beginning to seed.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
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.
