Meanings
verbpass for (third-person singular simple present passes for, present participle passing for, simple past and past participle passed for)
present singular third person passes for · participle present passing for · participle past passed for · past passed for
- transitiveTo be mistakenly seen as something that one is not
When I visited the offices in March, the walls were bare, the furniture battered. With the addition of a dead plant, the suite could pass for a graduate-student lounge.
2006, The New Yorker, archived from the original on 05 Dec 2012 - transitiveTo be sufficient, especially minimally so, for a specified purpose.
Cite this entry
APA
pass for. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pass%20for
MLA
“pass for.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pass%20for. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pass for,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pass%20for.
Source: pass for on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.