The word ‘pass‘ can mean many different things. As a verb, the meaning is to move in a particular direction/go past or be successful.
For example:
- I passed 12 ducklings earlier on my walk to work. (go past)
- I didn’t pass my exam. (be successful)
Pass is a regular verb. The past tense and past participle is passed.
phrasal verbs with pass
Phrasal verbs with ‘pass’ include:
- pass around/round
meaning – give to everyone
example – The pizza is ready. Can you pass it around while I put another one in. - pass as
meaning – pretend to be something
example – I don’t want to pay full price. Do you think I can pass as a child? - pass away
meaning – die
example – My grandma is terminally ill, I think she is going to pass away soon. - pass back
meaning – return something
example – The teacher passed back our projects one by one and read out our results. - pass by
meaning – visit briefly or miss an opportunity
example – I was passing by your side of town, so I thought I’d stop and say hello. - pass down
meaning – give something to younger generations
example – I love passing down ghost stories about the village to my nephews and nieces. - pass for
meaning – be accepted as something when it isn’t
example – Your painting is so good, it could pass for a Van Gogh original. - pass off
meaning – fool people into thinking something is genuine
example – A guy at the market is passing off fake Rolex watches as real ones. - pass on
meaning – give something to someone that was given to you
example – My daughter has passed on her tummy bug. I won’t be at work for a few days. - pass out
meaning – lose consciousness or distribute
example – I was very nervous as the teacher passed out the exam papers. - pass over
meaning – ignore/leave out
example – We’ll pass over section 4, it’s not relevant to today’s class. - pass through
meaning – visit somewhere without stopping or only stop briefly
example – I passed through the village last night, so I stopped in Aunt Mabel’s for a cuppa. - pass to
meaning – give responsibility/ ownership/ an object to someone
example – Lilly passed the bread knife to Carly. - pass up
meaning – decline an offer
example – My sister passed up the chance to live in Italy for 6 months.
picture examples
Let’s learn the meaning of the phrasal verbs that contain the verb ‘pass’ in more detail and see some examples in use.
