Definition of "passing" in Anglais

verb

1. present participle and gerund of pass

adjective

1. That passes away; ephemeral.

2. (now rare, literary) Pre-eminent, excellent, extreme.

3. Vague, cursory.

   • to make a passing comment
   • to have a passing acquaintance with somebody or something

4. Going past.

   • passing cars

5. That passes in any sense.

   • a passing transsexual

adverb

1. (literary or archaic) Surpassingly, greatly.

noun

1. Death, dying; the end of something.

2. The fact of going past; a movement from one place to another or a change from one state to another.

3. (law) The act of approving a bill etc.

4. (sports) The act of passing a ball etc. to another player.

5. A form of juggling where several people pass props between each other, usually clubs or rings.

6. (sociology) The ability of a person to be regarded as a member of an identity group or category different from their own.

   • When there is a discrepancy between an individual's actual social identity and his virtual one, it is possible for this fact to be known to us before we normals contact him, or to be quite evident when he presents himself before us. He is a discredited person, and it is mainly he I have been dealing with until now. … However, when his differentness is not immediately apparent, and is not known beforehand, … he is a discreditable, not a discredited person …. The issue is … that of managing information about his failing. To display or not to display; to tell or not to tell; to let on or not to let on; to lie or not to lie; and in each case, to whom, how, when, and where. … It is this second general issue, the management of undisclosed discrediting information about self, that I am focusing on in these notes - in brief, 'passing'.