Passing By

B1 8+
Pronunciation Definitions Examples Grammatical Forms Origin and Evolution

Pronunciation: /ˈpæsɪŋ baɪ/

Definitions of passing by

noun a person or thing that is moving past or going by

Example Sentences

A1 I saw a dog passing by.

A2 The children waved at the cars passing by.

B1 She enjoyed watching the boats passing by on the river.

B2 The tourists took pictures of the famous landmarks passing by.

C1 The constant stream of people passing by made it hard to focus.

C2 The fleeting moments of beauty captured in the paintings depict scenes of life passing by.

verb to go past or move by

Example Sentences

A1 I saw a cat passing by the window.

A2 She waved at me while passing by on her bike.

B1 The train was passing by as we waited on the platform.

B2 The car narrowly missed hitting the pedestrian passing by.

C1 The politician ignored the protestors passing by outside his office.

C2 The astronaut took a photo of Earth passing by from the space station.

Examples of passing by in a Sentence

formal As I was passing by the store, I noticed they had a sale on electronics.

informal I saw you passing by the park earlier, did you enjoy your walk?

slang I was just passing by when I saw the new food truck on the corner.

figurative The idea of success was just passing by, waiting for me to grab onto it.

Grammatical Forms of passing by

past tense

passed by

plural

passing by

comparative

more passing by

superlative

most passing by

present tense

pass by

future tense

will pass by

perfect tense

have passed by

continuous tense

is passing by

singular

passes by

positive degree

pass by

infinitive

to pass by

gerund

passing by

participle

passed by

Origin and Evolution of passing by

First Known Use: 1250 year
Language of Origin: Middle English
Story behind the word: The phrase 'passing by' originated from Middle English, where 'passing' meant 'going past or beyond' and 'by' meant 'near or beside'.
Evolution of the word: Over time, the phrase 'passing by' has retained its original meaning of moving past or near something, but it has also taken on additional connotations of casually encountering or ignoring someone or something.