i Register
In some senses, passing is marked as archaic, literary. Watch for register when choosing this word.
adj
That passes away; ephemeral.
And solace sought he none from priest nor leech, / And soon the same in movement and in speech / As heretofore he fill'd the passing hours […]
[…]this is just a passing thing But I believe in your sweet loving, loving, babe With every summer falling rain
Pre-eminent, excellent, extreme.
her passing deformity
It was by dint of passing strength, / That he moved the massy stone at length.
Vague, cursory.
to make a passing comment
to have a passing acquaintance with somebody or something
Going past.
passing cars
That passes in any sense.
a passing transsexual
adv
Surpassingly, greatly.
[...] for she was called a fair lady, and a passing wise, and her name was called Igraine.
How wonderful is Death, / Death and his brother Sleep! / One, pale as yonder waning moon / With lips of lurid blue; / The other, rosy as the morn / When throned on ocean's wave / It blushes o'er the world: / Yet both so passing wonderful!
noun
Death, dying; the end of something.
The fact of going past; a movement from one place to another or a change from one state to another.
And since he did not see Louie by the folding door, Louie knew that in his former passings and repassings he could not have seen her either.
The act of approving a bill etc.
But capital was proving difficult to raise; rumours were in the air that the G.W.R. and L.S.W.R. were about to patch up their quarrel, and the people of Southampton, who twelve months earlier had staged a torch-light procession to celebrate the passing of the D.N.S.R. Act, were increasingly loath to part with their cash.
The act of passing a ball etc. to another player.
A form of juggling where several people pass props between each other, usually clubs or rings.