Meanings
present singular third person goes by · participle present going by · past went by · participle past gone by
- transitiveTo follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
a good rule to go by
4 more examples
I'm only going by what my teacher said.
The uncared-for external appearance of the tanks is nothing to go by, for the glass-lined tanks are kept in perfect condition.
1959 March, R. C. Riley, “Home with the Milk”, in Trains Illustrated, page 155Martin says Rhymes with Reason is still in the testing phase. It's used in only a handful of classes, and he doesn't yet have reliable data to show that it actually improves test scores or vocabulary. ¶ But if the kids in Eddie Moyé's eighth-grade class are anything to go by, Austin Martin is on to something.
2015 December 23, Joe Palca, “Hip-Hop Vocab: The Lexicon Is In The Lyrics”, in NPROr perhaps we will sink back into our culture of complacent exceptionalism and await the next plague that will surely arrive. To go by recent history, that moment will come sooner than we think.
2020 April 9, Richard Horton, “Coronavirus is the greatest global science policy failure in a generation”, in The GuardianSynonyms: go off
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo pass or go past without much interaction.
verbTo suggest or request that other people use a specific set of gender pronouns when referring to the subject.
verbTo follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
More synonyms by meaning
verbfor time to move forward
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Chinese Cantonese 路過 /路过
- 路過 /路过 (lou⁶ gwo³)to pass by without paying attention to
Chinese Mandarin 路過 /路过, 称呼
- 路過 /路过 (lùguò)to pass by without paying attention to
- 称呼 (chēng hu)to be called, to use as a name
Esperanto pasi, nomiĝi
- pasito pass by without paying attention to
- nomiĝito be called, to use as a name
- sekvito follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
Finnish mennä ohi, kutsua
- mennä ohito pass by without paying attention to
- kutsuato be called, to use as a name
- noudattaato follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
French passer, ignorer
- passerto pass by without paying attention to
- ignorerto pass by without paying attention to
- se faire appelerto be called, to use as a name
- suivreto follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
- se fier àto follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
German vorbeigehen, vorbeifahren
- vorbeigehento pass by without paying attention to
- vorbeifahrento pass by without paying attention to
Japanese 擦れ違う
- 擦れ違う (surechigau)to pass by without paying attention to
Latin praeterbito, praetereo
- praeterbitoto pass by without paying attention to
- praetereoto pass by without paying attention to
Polish mijać, minąć
- mijaćto pass by without paying attention to
- minąćto pass by without paying attention to
- mieć na imięto be called, to use as a name
- mieć na nazwiskoto be called, to use as a name
- sądzić poto follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
- osądzać poto follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
- osądzić poto follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
Portuguese passar
- passarto pass by without paying attention to
Russian проходи́ть, проходи́ть ми́мо
- проходи́ть (proxodítʹ)to pass by without paying attention to
- проходи́ть ми́мо (proxodítʹ mímo)to pass by without paying attention to
- сле́довать (slédovatʹ)to follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
Spanish llamarlo, hacerse llamar
- llamarloto be called, to use as a name
- hacerse llamarto be called, to use as a name
- inferir a partir de/segúnto follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
- fiarse deto follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
- guiarse porto follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
- seguirto follow; to assume as true for the purposes of making a decision, taking an action, etc.
Cite this entry
go by. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20by
“go by.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20by. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “go by,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20by.
Source: go by on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.