passes

noun

An opening, road, or track, available for passing; especially, one through or over some dangerous or otherwise impracticable barrier such as a mountain range; a passageway; a defile; a ford.

A channel connecting a river or body of water to the sea, for example at the mouth (delta) of a river.

A single movement, especially of a hand, at, over, or along anything.

A single passage of a tool over something, or of something over a tool.

An attempt.

A sexual advance (often in the phrase make a pass).

Success in an examination or similar test.

(fencing) A thrust or push; an attempt to stab or strike an adversary.

(figuratively) A thrust; a sally of wit.

(sports) The act of moving the ball or puck from one player to another.

(rail transport) A passing of two trains in the same direction on a single track, when one is put into a siding to let the other overtake it.

Permission or license to pass, or to go and come.

A document granting permission to pass or to go and come; a passport; a ticket permitting free transit or admission

(baseball) An intentional walk.

(sports) The act of overtaking; an overtaking manoeuvre.

The state of things; condition; predicament; impasse.

(cooking) The area in a restaurant kitchen where the finished dishes are passed from the chefs to the waiting staff.

An act of declining to play one's turn in a game, often by saying the word "pass".

(computing) A run through a document as part of a translation, compilation or reformatting process.

(computing, slang) A password (especially one for a restricted-access website).

A surname.

(initialism, mnemonic) Used to remember how to use a fire extinguisher: pull the pin, aim at the base (of the fire), squeeze the handle/trigger, sweep from side to side.

(education) Initialism of positive alternative to school suspension.

Initialism of personal alert safety system.

Initialism of penile artery shunt syndrome.

(obsolete) Estimation; character.

verb

To change place.

(intransitive) To move or be moved from one place to another.

(transitive) To go past, by, over, or through; to proceed from one side to the other of; to move past.

(ditransitive) To cause to move or go; to send; to transfer from one person, place, or condition to another.

(intransitive, transitive, medicine) To eliminate (something) from the body by natural processes.

(transitive, nautical) To take a turn with (a line, gasket, etc.), as around a sail in furling, and make secure.

(sports) To make various kinds of movement.

(transitive, soccer) To kick (the ball) with precision rather than at full force.

(transitive) To move (the ball or puck) to a teammate.

(intransitive, fencing) To make a lunge or swipe.

(intransitive, American football) To throw the ball, generally downfield, towards a teammate.

(intransitive) To go from one person to another.

(transitive) To put in circulation; to give currency to.

(transitive) To cause to obtain entrance, admission, or conveyance.

(transitive, cooking) To put through a sieve.

To change in state or status

(intransitive) To progress from one state to another; to advance.

(intransitive) To depart, to cease, to come to an end.

(intransitive) To die.

(intransitive, transitive) To achieve a successful outcome from.

(intransitive, transitive) To advance through all the steps or stages necessary to become valid or effective; to obtain the formal sanction of (a legislative body).

(intransitive, law) To be conveyed or transferred by will, deed, or other instrument of conveyance.

(transitive) To cause to advance by stages of progress; to carry on with success through an ordeal, examination, or action; specifically, to give legal or official sanction to; to ratify; to enact; to approve as valid and just.

(intransitive, law) To make a judgment on or upon a person or case.

(transitive) To utter; to pronounce; to pledge.

(intransitive) To change from one state to another (without the implication of progression).

To move through time.

(intransitive, of time) To elapse, to be spent.

(transitive, of time) To spend.

(transitive) To allow to go by without noticing; to omit attention to; to take no note of; to disregard.

(intransitive) To continue.

(intransitive) To proceed without hindrance or opposition.

(transitive) To live through; to have experience of; to undergo; to suffer.

(intransitive) To happen.

To be accepted.

(intransitive, stative) To be tolerated as a substitute for something else, to "do".

(intransitive, stative, sociology) To be accepted by others as a member of a race, sex, or other group to which one does not belong or would not have originally appeared to belong; especially to be considered white although one has black ancestry, or a woman although one was assigned male at birth or vice versa.

To refrain from doing something.

(intransitive) To decline something that is offered or available.

(transitive) To reject; to pass up.

(intransitive) To decline or not attempt to answer a question.

(intransitive) In turn-based games, to decline to play in one's turn.

(intransitive, card games) In euchre, to decline to make the trump.

To do or be better.

(transitive) To transcend; to surpass; to excel; to exceed.

(intransitive, obsolete) To go beyond bounds; to surpass; to be in excess.

(intransitive, obsolete) To take heed, to have an interest, to care.

Roots

passuspass- · Latin · step, pace

Synonyms & related words for passes

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Words related to passes

Explore words related to passes — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include passing, elapse, repass, passed, passer, overtake, expire, legislate. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Where does passes come from?

The word passes breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root pass-, from Latin passus (“step, pace”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.