The past tense of go is went. The -ed participle is gone.
You usually use the verb go to describe movement from one place to another.
Go is sometimes used to say that someone or something leaves a place.
If someone is visiting a place or now lives there, you can say that they have gone there.
If someone has visited a place and has now returned, you usually say that they have been there. American speakers sometimes say that they have gone there.
You can use go with an -ing form to talk about activities.
You can also use go with for and a noun phrase to talk about activities.
Be Careful!
Don't use go with a to-infinitive to talk about activities. Don't say, for example, 'He went to walk'.
To go and do something means to move from one place to another in order to do it.
If you say that something is going to happen, you mean that it will happen soon, or that you intend it to happen.
Go is sometimes used to mean 'become'.
Imperative |
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go |
go |
Noun | 1. | ![]() |
2. | ![]() MDMA, methylenedioxymethamphetamine - a stimulant drug that is chemically related to mescaline and amphetamine and is used illicitly for its euphoric and hallucinogenic effects; it was formerly used in psychotherapy but in 1985 it was declared illegal in the United States; "MDMA is often used at parties because it enables partygoers to remain active for long periods of time" | |
3. | go - a usually brief attempt; "he took a crack at it"; "I gave it a whirl" | |
4. | ![]() board game - a game played on a specially designed board | |
Verb | 1. | ![]() circulate, go around, spread - become widely known and passed on; "the rumor spread"; "the story went around in the office" carry - cover a certain distance or advance beyond; "The drive carried to the green" ease - move gently or carefully; "He eased himself into the chair" whish - move with a whishing sound; "The car whished past her" float - move lightly, as if suspended; "The dancer floated across the stage" swap - move (a piece of a program) into memory, in computer science seek - go to or towards; "a liquid seeks its own level" whine - move with a whining sound; "The bullets were whining past us" fly - be dispersed or disseminated; "Rumors and accusations are flying" ride - move like a floating object; "The moon rode high in the night sky" come - cover a certain distance; "She came a long way" ghost - move like a ghost; "The masked men ghosted across the moonlit yard" betake oneself - displace oneself; go from one location to another travel - undergo transportation as in a vehicle; "We travelled North on Rte. 508" wend - direct one's course or way; "wend your way through the crowds" do - travel or traverse (a distance); "This car does 150 miles per hour"; "We did 6 miles on our hike every day" raft - travel by raft in water; "Raft the Colorado River" get about, get around - move around; move from place to place; "How does she get around without a car?" resort, repair - move, travel, or proceed toward some place; "He repaired to his cabin in the woods" cruise - travel at a moderate speed; "Please keep your seat belt fastened while the plane is reaching cruising altitude" come, come up - move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody; "He came singing down the road"; "Come with me to the Casbah"; "come down here!"; "come out of the closet!"; "come into the room" move, displace - cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense; "Move those boxes into the corner, please"; "I'm moving my money to another bank"; "The director moved more responsibilities onto his new assistant" round - wind around; move along a circular course; "round the bend" trundle - move heavily; "the streetcar trundled down the avenue" push - move strenuously and with effort; "The crowd pushed forward" travel purposefully - travel volitionally and in a certain direction with a certain goal swing - change direction with a swinging motion; turn; "swing back"; "swing forward" rove, stray, roam, vagabond, wander, swan, ramble, range, drift, tramp, cast, roll - move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment; "The gypsies roamed the woods"; "roving vagabonds"; "the wandering Jew"; "The cattle roam across the prairie"; "the laborers drift from one town to the next"; "They rolled from town to town" take the air, walk - take a walk; go for a walk; walk for pleasure; "The lovers held hands while walking"; "We like to walk every Sunday" meander, thread, wind, wander, weave - to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course; "the river winds through the hills"; "the path meanders through the vineyards"; "sometimes, the gout wanders through the entire body" crawl, creep - move slowly; in the case of people or animals with the body near the ground; "The crocodile was crawling along the riverbed" scramble - to move hurriedly; "The friend scrambled after them" slither, slide - to pass or move unobtrusively or smoothly; "They slid through the wicket in the big gate" roll, wheel - move along on or as if on wheels or a wheeled vehicle; "The President's convoy rolled past the crowds" glide - move smoothly and effortlessly breeze - to proceed quickly and easily be adrift, drift, float, blow - be in motion due to some air or water current; "The leaves were blowing in the wind"; "the boat drifted on the lake"; "The sailboat was adrift on the open sea"; "the shipwrecked boat drifted away from the shore" play - move or seem to move quickly, lightly, or irregularly; "The spotlights played on the politicians" swim - move as if gliding through water; "this snake swims through the soil where it lives" walk - use one's feet to advance; advance by steps; "Walk, don't run!"; "We walked instead of driving"; "She walks with a slight limp"; "The patient cannot walk yet"; "Walk over to the cabinet" |
2. | go - follow a procedure or take a course; "We should go farther in this matter"; "She went through a lot of trouble"; "go about the world in a certain manner"; "Messages must go through diplomatic channels" act, move - perform an action, or work out or perform (an action); "think before you act"; "We must move quickly"; "The governor should act on the new energy bill"; "The nanny acted quickly by grabbing the toddler and covering him with a wet towel" work - proceed towards a goal or along a path or through an activity; "work your way through every problem or task"; "She was working on her second martini when the guests arrived"; "Start from the bottom and work towards the top" venture, embark - proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers; "We ventured into the world of high-tech and bought a supercomputer" steamroll, steamroller - proceed with great force; "The new teacher tends to steamroller" | |
3. | go - move away from a place into another direction; "Go away before I start to cry"; "The train departs at noon" shove along, shove off, blow - leave; informal or rude; "shove off!"; "The children shoved along"; "Blow now!" | |
4. | ![]() change state, turn - undergo a transformation or a change of position or action; "We turned from Socialism to Capitalism"; "The people turned against the President when he stole the election" sober up, sober - become sober after excessive alcohol consumption; "Keep him in bed until he sobers up" sober, sober up - become more realistic; "After thinking about the potential consequences of his plan, he sobered up" work - arrive at a certain condition through repeated motion; "The stitches of the hem worked loose after she wore the skirt many times" take effect - go into effect or become effective or operative; "The new law will take effect next month" run - change from one state to another; "run amok"; "run rogue"; "run riot" take - be seized or affected in a specified way; "take sick"; "be taken drunk" break - come into being; "light broke over the horizon"; "Voices broke in the air" settle - become resolved, fixed, established, or quiet; "The roar settled to a thunder"; "The wind settled in the West"; "it is settling to rain"; "A cough settled in her chest"; "Her mood settled into lethargy" | |
5. | go - be awarded; be allotted; "The first prize goes to Mary"; "Her money went on clothes" | |
6. | go - have a particular form; "the story or argument runs as follows"; "as the saying goes..." be - have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun); "John is rich"; "This is not a good answer" | |
7. | go - stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope; run or extend between two points or beyond a certain point; "Service runs all the way to Cranbury"; "His knowledge doesn't go very far"; "My memory extends back to my fourth year of life"; "The facts extend beyond a consideration of her personal assets" be - occupy a certain position or area; be somewhere; "Where is my umbrella?" "The toolshed is in the back"; "What is behind this behavior?" come - extend or reach; "The water came up to my waist"; "The sleeves come to your knuckles" ray, radiate - extend or spread outward from a center or focus or inward towards a center; "spokes radiate from the hub of the wheel"; "This plants radiate spines in all directions" | |
8. | go - follow a certain course; "The inauguration went well"; "how did your interview go?" hap, happen, occur, come about, take place, go on, pass off, fall out, pass - come to pass; "What is happening?"; "The meeting took place off without an incidence"; "Nothing occurred that seemed important" | |
9. | go - be abolished or discarded; "These ugly billboards have to go!"; "These luxuries all had to go under the Khmer Rouge" | |
10. | go - be or continue to be in a certain condition; "The children went hungry that day" be - have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun); "John is rich"; "This is not a good answer" | |
11. | go - make a certain noise or sound; "She went `Mmmmm'"; "The gun went `bang'" snarl - make a snarling noise or move with a snarling noise; "Bullets snarled past us" sing, whistle - make a whining, ringing, or whistling sound; "the kettle was singing"; "the bullet sang past his ear" cause to be perceived - have perceptible qualities blow - make a sound as if blown; "The whistle blew" ting - make a light, metallic sound; go `ting' splat - give off the sound of a bullet flattening on impact twang - sound with a twang; "the bowstring was twanging" clank - make a clank; "the train clanked through the village" drum, thrum, beat - make a rhythmic sound; "Rain drummed against the windshield"; "The drums beat all night" rattle - make short successive sounds ticktack, ticktock, tick, beat - make a sound like a clock or a timer; "the clocks were ticking"; "the grandfather clock beat midnight" crash - make a sudden loud sound; "the waves crashed on the shore and kept us awake all night" skirl - make a shrill, wailing sound; "skirling bagpipes" gurgle - make sounds similar to gurgling water; "The baby gurgled with satisfaction when the mother tickled it" glug - make a gurgling sound as of liquid issuing from a bottle; "the wine bottles glugged" blow - sound by having air expelled through a tube; "The trumpets blew" whish - make a sibilant sound guggle - make a sound like a liquid that is being poured from a bottle ping - make a short high-pitched sound; "the bullet pinged when they struck the car" ping, pink, knock - sound like a car engine that is firing too early; "the car pinged when I put in low-octane gasoline"; "The car pinked when the ignition was too far retarded" trump - produce a sound as if from a trumpet squelch - make a sucking sound chug - make a dull, explosive sound; "the engine chugged down the street" chime - emit a sound; "bells and gongs chimed" rustle - make a dry crackling sound; "rustling silk"; "the dry leaves were rustling in the breeze" crack - make a very sharp explosive sound; "His gun cracked" whistle - make whistling sounds; "He lay there, snoring and whistling" clop, clump, clunk, plunk - make or move along with a sound as of a horse's hooves striking the ground patter, pitter-patter - make light, rapid and repeated sounds; "gently pattering rain" pink, rap, knock, tap - make light, repeated taps on a surface; "he was tapping his fingers on the table impatiently" pop - make a sharp explosive noise; "The cork of the champagne bottle popped" bleep - emit a single short high-pitched signal; "The computer bleeped away" bang - to produce a sharp often metallic explosive or percussive sound; "One of them banged the sash of the window nearest my bed" | |
12. | go - perform as expected when applied; "The washing machine won't go unless it's plugged in"; "Does this old car still run well?"; "This old radio doesn't work anymore" double - do double duty; serve two purposes or have two functions; "She doubles as his wife and secretary" roll - begin operating or running; "The cameras were rolling"; "The presses are already rolling" run - be operating, running or functioning; "The car is still running--turn it off!" cut - function as a cutting instrument; "This knife cuts well" work - operate in or through; "Work the phones" | |
13. | go - to be spent or finished; "The money had gone after a few days"; "Gas is running low at the gas stations in the Midwest" go - be spent; "All my money went for food and rent" end, cease, terminate, finish, stop - have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical; "the bronchioles terminate in a capillary bed"; "Your rights stop where you infringe upon the rights of other"; "My property ends by the bushes"; "The symphony ends in a pianissimo" | |
14. | go - progress by being changed; "The speech has to go through several more drafts"; "run through your presentation before the meeting" change - undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night" | |
15. | go - continue to live through hardship or adversity; "We went without water and food for 3 days"; "These superstitions survive in the backwaters of America"; "The race car driver lived through several very serious accidents"; "how long can a person last without food and water?" live, be - have life, be alive; "Our great leader is no more"; "My grandfather lived until the end of war" subsist, exist, survive, live - support oneself; "he could barely exist on such a low wage"; "Can you live on $2000 a month in New York City?"; "Many people in the world have to subsist on $1 a day" hold water, stand up, hold up - resist or withstand wear, criticism, etc.; "Her shoes won't hold up"; "This theory won't hold water" perennate - survive from season to season, of plants live out - live out one's life; live to the end | |
16. | go - pass, fare, or elapse; of a certain state of affairs or action; "How is it going?"; "The day went well until I got your call" collocate with, construe with, cooccur with, co-occur with, go with - go or occur together; "The word 'hot' tends to cooccur with 'cold'" | |
17. | ![]() croak, decease, die, drop dead, buy the farm, cash in one's chips, give-up the ghost, kick the bucket, pass away, perish, snuff it, pop off, expire, conk, exit, choke, pass abort - cease development, die, and be aborted; "an aborting fetus" change state, turn - undergo a transformation or a change of position or action; "We turned from Socialism to Capitalism"; "The people turned against the President when he stole the election" asphyxiate, stifle, suffocate - be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen; "The child suffocated under the pillow" drown - die from being submerged in water, getting water into the lungs, and asphyxiating; "The child drowned in the lake" predecease - die before; die earlier than; "She predeceased her husband" conk out, go bad, break down, die, fail, give out, give way, break, go - stop operating or functioning; "The engine finally went"; "The car died on the road"; "The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town"; "The coffee maker broke"; "The engine failed on the way to town"; "her eyesight went after the accident" starve, famish - die of food deprivation; "The political prisoners starved to death"; "Many famished in the countryside during the drought" die - suffer or face the pain of death; "Martyrs may die every day for their faith" fall - die, as in battle or in a hunt; "Many soldiers fell at Verdun"; "Several deer have fallen to the same gun"; "The shooting victim fell dead" | |
18. | ![]() be - occupy a certain position or area; be somewhere; "Where is my umbrella?" "The toolshed is in the back"; "What is behind this behavior?" | |
19. | go - be ranked or compare; "This violinist is as good as Juilliard-trained violinists go" compare - be comparable; "This car does not compare with our line of Mercedes" | |
20. | go - begin or set in motion; "I start at eight in the morning"; "Ready, set, go!" come on, go on, come up - start running, functioning, or operating; "the lights went on"; "the computer came up" get off the ground, take off - get started or set in motion, used figuratively; "the project took a long time to get off the ground" | |
21. | go - have a turn; make one's move in a game; "Can I go now?" make a motion, move - propose formally; in a debate or parliamentary meeting bluff, bluff out - deceive an opponent by a bold bet on an inferior hand with the result that the opponent withdraws a winning hand stalemate - subject to a stalemate castle - move the king two squares toward a rook and in the same move the rook to the square next past the king serve - put the ball into play; "It was Agassi's turn to serve" open - make the opening move; "Kasparov opened with a standard opening" maneuver, manoeuver, manoeuvre, operate - perform a movement in military or naval tactics in order to secure an advantage in attack or defense check - decline to initiate betting | |
22. | go - be contained in; "How many times does 18 go into 54?" | |
23. | go - be sounded, played, or expressed; "How does this song go again?" | |
24. | ![]() | |
25. | go - lead, extend, or afford access; "This door goes to the basement"; "The road runs South" be - occupy a certain position or area; be somewhere; "Where is my umbrella?" "The toolshed is in the back"; "What is behind this behavior?" | |
26. | go - be the right size or shape; fit correctly or as desired; "This piece won't fit into the puzzle" tessellate - fit together exactly, of identical shapes; "triangles tessellate" joint - fit as if by joints; "The boards fit neatly" blend in, blend, go - blend or harmonize; "This flavor will blend with those in your dish"; "This sofa won't go with the chairs" fit - conform to some shape or size; "How does this shirt fit?" | |
27. | go - go through in search of something; search through someone's belongings in an unauthorized way; "Who rifled through my desk drawers?" search - subject to a search; "The police searched the suspect"; "We searched the whole house for the missing keys" | |
28. | go - be spent; "All my money went for food and rent" | |
29. | go - give support (to) or make a choice (of) one out of a group or number; "I plumped for the losing candidates" | |
30. | go - stop operating or functioning; "The engine finally went"; "The car died on the road"; "The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town"; "The coffee maker broke"; "The engine failed on the way to town"; "her eyesight went after the accident" change - undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night" break - render inoperable or ineffective; "You broke the alarm clock when you took it apart!" croak, decease, die, drop dead, buy the farm, cash in one's chips, give-up the ghost, kick the bucket, pass away, perish, snuff it, pop off, expire, conk, exit, choke, go, pass - pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life; "She died from cancer"; "The children perished in the fire"; "The patient went peacefully"; "The old guy kicked the bucket at the age of 102" go down, crash - stop operating; "My computer crashed last night"; "The system goes down at least once a week" blow out, burn out, blow - melt, break, or become otherwise unusable; "The lightbulbs blew out"; "The fuse blew" misfire - fail to fire or detonate; "The guns misfired" malfunction, misfunction - fail to function or function improperly; "the coffee maker malfunctioned" | |
Adj. | 1. | go - functioning correctly and ready for action; "all systems are go" no-go - not functioning properly or in suitable condition for proceeding; "the space launch was no-go" |