What does follow mean?
Definitions for follow
ˈfɒl oʊfol·low
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word follow.
Princeton's WordNet
followverb
to travel behind, go after, come after
"The ducklings followed their mother around the pond"; "Please follow the guide through the museum"
postdate, followverb
be later in time
"Tuesday always follows Monday"
follow, fall outverb
come as a logical consequence; follow logically
"It follows that your assertion is false"; "the theorem falls out nicely"
follow, travel alongverb
travel along a certain course
"follow the road"; "follow the trail"
comply, follow, abide byverb
act in accordance with someone's rules, commands, or wishes
"He complied with my instructions"; "You must comply or else!"; "Follow these simple rules"; "abide by the rules"
follow, come afterverb
come after in time, as a result
"A terrible tsunami followed the earthquake"
follow, conform toverb
behave in accordance or in agreement with
"Follow a pattern"; "Follow my example"
followverb
be next
"Mary plays best, with John and Sue following"
adopt, follow, espouseverb
choose and follow; as of theories, ideas, policies, strategies or plans
"She followed the feminist movement"; "The candidate espouses Republican ideals"
followverb
to bring something about at a later time than
"She followed dinner with a brandy"; "He followed his lecture with a question and answer period"
take after, followverb
imitate in behavior; take as a model
"Teenagers follow their friends in everything"
trace, followverb
follow, discover, or ascertain the course of development of something
"We must follow closely the economic development is Cuba" ; "trace the student's progress"
watch, observe, follow, watch over, keep an eye onverb
follow with the eyes or the mind
"Keep an eye on the baby, please!"; "The world is watching Sarajevo"; "She followed the men with the binoculars"
succeed, come after, followverb
be the successor (of)
"Carter followed Ford"; "Will Charles succeed to the throne?"
play along, accompany, followverb
perform an accompaniment to
"The orchestra could barely follow the frequent pitch changes of the soprano"
keep up, keep abreast, followverb
keep informed
"He kept up on his country's foreign policies"
come, followverb
to be the product or result
"Melons come from a vine"; "Understanding comes from experience"
followverb
accept and follow the leadership or command or guidance of
"Let's follow our great helmsman!"; "She followed a guru for years"
followverb
adhere to or practice
"These people still follow the laws of their ancient religion"
be, followverb
work in a specific place, with a specific subject, or in a specific function
"He is a herpetologist"; "She is our resident philosopher"
surveil, follow, surveyverb
keep under surveillance
"The police had been following him for weeks but they could not prove his involvement in the bombing"
pursue, followverb
follow in or as if in pursuit
"The police car pursued the suspected attacker"; "Her bad deed followed her and haunted her dreams all her life"
followverb
grasp the meaning
"Can you follow her argument?"; "When he lectures, I cannot follow"
stick to, stick with, followverb
keep to
"Stick to your principles"; "stick to the diet"
Wiktionary
followverb
To go or come after in physical space.
Follow that car!
followverb
To go or come after in a sequence.
B follows A in the alphabet.
followverb
To carry out in accordance to (orders, instructions, etc).
Follow these instructions to the letter.
followverb
To live one's life according to (religion, teachings, etc).
followverb
To understand, to pay attention to.
Do you follow me?
followverb
To watch, to keep track of (reports of) some event or person.
I followed the incumbent throughout the election.
followverb
To be a logical consequence of.
It follows that if two numbers are not equal then one is larger than the other.
Etymology: folwen, folgen from folgian, fylgan 'to follow, pursue', from fulʒēnan (compare West Frisian folgje, volgen, folgen), from *fulkan 'folk'. More at folk.
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
To FOLLOWverb
Etymology: folgian, Saxon; volgen, Dutch.
I had rather, forsooth, go before you like a man, than follow him like a dwarf. William Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor.
Wherever guilt can fly, revenge can follow. Irene.
And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle. 1 Sa. xvii. 13.
Such smiling rogues as these sooth every passion,
That in the nature of their lords rebels:
As knowing nought, like dogs, but following. William Shakespeare, K. Lear.Let not the muse then flatter lawless sway,
Nor follow fortune where she leads the way. Alexander Pope.Not yielding over to old age his country delights, he was at that time following a merlin. Philip Sidney, b. ii.
Some pious tears the pitying hero paid,
And follow’d with his eyes the fleeting shade. John Dryden, Æn.We follow fate, which does too fast pursue. Dryden.
Where Rome keepeth that which is ancienter and better, others, whom we much more affect, leaving it for newer, and changing it for worse, we had rather follow the perfections of them whom we like not, than in defects resemble them whom we love. Richard Hooker, b. v. s. 28.
Ill patterns are sure to be followed more than good rules. John Locke, on Education.
If all who do not follow oral tradition as their only rule of faith are out of the church, then all who follow the council of Trent are no Christians. John Tillotson, Preface.
Most men admire
Virtue, who follow not her lore. Paradise Regain’d, b. vii.They bound themselves to his laws and obedience; and in case it had been followed upon them, as it should have been, they should have been reduced to perpetual civility. Edmund Spenser.
He that undertaketh and followeth other mens business for gain, shall fall into suits. Ecclus. xxix. 9.
To Followverb
Peter followed afar off. Luke xxii. 54.
The famine shall follow close after you. Jer. xlii. 16.
Welcome all that lead or follow
To the oracle of Apollo. Ben Jonson.If the neglect or abuse of liberty to examine what would really and truly make for his happiness misleads him, the miscarriages that follow on it must be imputed to his own election. John Locke.
To tempt them to do what is neither for their own nor the good of those under their care, great mischiefs cannot but follow. John Locke.
Though there are or have been sometimes dwarfs, and sometimes giants in the world; yet it does not follow that there must be such in every age, nor in every country. William Temple.
This dangerous doctrine must necessarily follow, from making all political power to be nothing else but Adam’s paternal power. John Locke.
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord. Hos.
Wikipedia
Follow
Follow / "Swallow" is the fourth single by English electronic band Crystal Fighters from their album Star of Love. The double A-side was released on 27 September 2010 through Zirkulo records, to positive reviews. "Follow" was also featured on EA Sports FIFA 13.
ChatGPT
follow
To follow means to go or come after someone or something, usually in the same direction or path. It can also refer to adhering to, obeying, or accepting the guidance, instructions, or suggestions of a person, organization, or belief system. Additionally, it can mean to monitor or keep track of someone's activities or updates, typically on social media platforms.
Webster Dictionary
Followverb
to go or come after; to move behind in the same path or direction; hence, to go with (a leader, guide, etc.); to accompany; to attend
Followverb
to endeavor to overtake; to go in pursuit of; to chase; to pursue; to prosecute
Followverb
to accept as authority; to adopt the opinions of; to obey; to yield to; to take as a rule of action; as, to follow good advice
Followverb
to copy after; to take as an example
Followverb
to succeed in order of time, rank, or office
Followverb
to result from, as an effect from a cause, or an inference from a premise
Followverb
to watch, as a receding object; to keep the eyes fixed upon while in motion; to keep the mind upon while in progress, as a speech, musical performance, etc.; also, to keep up with; to understand the meaning, connection, or force of, as of a course of thought or argument
Followverb
to walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling
Followverb
to go or come after; -- used in the various senses of the transitive verb: To pursue; to attend; to accompany; to be a result; to imitate
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Follow
fol′ō, v.t. to go after or behind: to come after, succeed: to pursue: to attend: to imitate: to obey: to adopt, as an opinion: to keep the eye or mind fixed on: to pursue, as an object of desire: to result from, as an effect from a cause: (B.) to strive to obtain.—v.i. to come after another: to result.—n. (billiards) a stroke which causes the ball to follow the one which it has struck.—ns. Foll′ow-board, in moulding, the board on which the pattern is laid; Foll′ower, one who comes after: a copier: a disciple: a servant-girl's sweetheart; Foll′owing, the whole body of supporters.—adj. coming next after.—Follow home, to follow closely: to follow to the end; Follow on (B.), to continue endeavours; Follow suit, in card-playing, to play a card of the same suit as the one which was led: to do anything on the same lines as another; Follow up, to pursue an advantage closely. [A.S. folgian, fylgian, app. a compound, but obscure; Ger. folgen.]
Editors Contribution
follow
To act or behave according to a specific code or rule.
We have to follow the governmental guidelines to ensure we comply.
Submitted by MaryC on March 14, 2020
follow
To read, be aware and understand a code, guideline, process, procedure, standard or document.
WE had to follow the standard to ensure we were compliant.
Submitted by MaryC on March 14, 2020
Matched Categories
British National Corpus
Spoken Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'follow' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1092
Written Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'follow' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1243
Verbs Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'follow' in Verbs Frequency: #43
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of follow in Chaldean Numerology is: 7
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of follow in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2
Examples of follow in a Sentence
One of the key things that unites all organisations that are part of action/2015 is wanting to make sure that the data is clear. You can only hold people accountable if you can measure what they're doing, people must be able to follow the money, follow the metrics, to hold leaders accountable.
From what we understand, it does depend on what district you are in. The district should have very well thought-out outbreak plans that have included the voices of educators and parents and community members in the crafting of those plans, and they should have plans that follow the CDC recommendations, our recommendation to all students and school districts is to follow the medical experts and follow the CDC.
People are like shadows: if you follow them, they run away from you; if you run away from them, they follow you.
People must be able to follow the money, follow the metrics, to hold leaders accountable.
Not everyone will lead - Not everyone will follow - The trick is to find leaders who will also follow & followers who will also lead.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
Translations for follow
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- إتبع, تبع, خلفArabic
- следвам, съблюдавамBulgarian
- seguirCatalan, Valencian
- sledovat, plynout, dodržetCzech
- følgeDanish
- folgenGerman
- ακολουθώ, επακολουθώGreek
- sekviEsperanto
- seguirSpanish
- aru saama, jälitama, tulenema, järgnema, järgimaEstonian
- دنبال کردن, پیرویPersian
- seurata, tarkkailla, noudattaa, pysyä kärryillä, pysyä mukanaFinnish
- suivreFrench
- folgjeWestern Frisian
- leanScottish Gaelic
- seguirGalician
- עקבHebrew
- पीछा करनाHindi
- követ, következikHungarian
- հետևելArmenian
- sequarIdo
- seguireItalian
- 従う, 付いて行くJapanese
- გაყოლა, მიყოლაGeorgian
- 따르다Korean
- sequiLatin
- follegenLuxembourgish, Letzeburgesch
- sektiLithuanian
- sekotLatvian
- дагах мѳрдѳхMongolian
- volgenDutch
- følgeNorwegian
- nadążać, wynikać, śledzić, wykonać, wyznawać, następowaćPolish
- seguirPortuguese
- qatiyQuechua
- urma, urmăriRomanian
- следить, соблюдать, следоватьRussian
- prȁtiti, slijéditiSerbo-Croatian
- sleditiSlovene
- ndjekAlbanian
- följa, hänga med, haja, förstå, fattaSwedish
- பின்தொடர்Tamil
- అనుసరించు, వెంబడించు, పాటించుTelugu
- ทยอย, ตามThai
- izlemek, takip etmekTurkish
- پیچھا کرناUrdu
- shuveWalloon
- 跟随Chinese
Get even more translations for follow »
Translation
Find a translation for the follow definition in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Word of the Day
Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?
Citation
Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"follow." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 10 Dec. 2023. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/follow>.
Discuss these follow definitions with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In