adjective
passing
PAH-sihng
adjective
1
Lasting only briefly; temporary.
"It was just a passing fad, nothing serious."
noun
1
Death, or the end of something.
"The whole town mourned his passing."
2
The act of moving past something, or moving something (such as a ball) to another person.
"The team's passing was sloppy in the first half."
How to Use Passing
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishCan describe something brief and fleeting, a death, or the action of passing something along.
Common mistake
"Passing" is a gentler, more formal way to refer to someone's death than "dying."
Common pairings
a passing thought
in passing
his passing
passing accuracy
Word Forms
more passing comparative, passings plural, most passing superlative
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It was just a _____ fad, nothing serious.
Etymology
From pass plus the suffix -ing.