Definitions for follow
ˈfɒl oʊfol·low

Princeton's WordNet(3.40 / 5 votes)Rate this definition:

1. followverb

   to travel behind, go after, come after

   "The ducklings followed their mother around the pond"; "Please follow the guide through the museum"

2. postdate, followverb

   be later in time

   "Tuesday always follows Monday"

3. follow, fall outverb

   come as a logical consequence; follow logically

   "It follows that your assertion is false"; "the theorem falls out nicely"

4. follow, travel alongverb

   travel along a certain course

   "follow the road"; "follow the trail"

5. 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"

6. follow, come afterverb

   come after in time, as a result

   "A terrible tsunami followed the earthquake"

7. follow, conform toverb

   behave in accordance or in agreement with

   "Follow a pattern"; "Follow my example"

8. followverb

   be next

   "Mary plays best, with John and Sue following"

9. adopt, follow, espouseverb

   choose and follow; as of theories, ideas, policies, strategies or plans

   "She followed the feminist movement"; "The candidate espouses Republican ideals"

10. 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"

11. take after, followverb

    imitate in behavior; take as a model

    "Teenagers follow their friends in everything"

12. 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"

13. 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"

14. succeed, come after, followverb

    be the successor (of)

    "Carter followed Ford"; "Will Charles succeed to the throne?"

15. play along, accompany, followverb

    perform an accompaniment to

    "The orchestra could barely follow the frequent pitch changes of the soprano"

16. keep up, keep abreast, followverb

    keep informed

    "He kept up on his country's foreign policies"

17. come, followverb

    to be the product or result

    "Melons come from a vine"; "Understanding comes from experience"

18. followverb

    accept and follow the leadership or command or guidance of

    "Let's follow our great helmsman!"; "She followed a guru for years"

19. followverb

    adhere to or practice

    "These people still follow the laws of their ancient religion"

20. 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"

21. surveil, follow, surveyverb

    keep under surveillance

    "The police had been following him for weeks but they could not prove his involvement in the bombing"

22. 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"

23. followverb

    grasp the meaning

    "Can you follow her argument?"; "When he lectures, I cannot follow"

24. stick to, stick with, followverb

    keep to

    "Stick to your principles"; "stick to the diet"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. followverb

   To go or come after in physical space.

   Follow that car!

   Etymology: folwen, folgen from folgian, fylgan 'to follow, pursue', from fulʒēnan (compare West Frisian folgje, volgen, folgen), from *fulkan 'folk'. More at folk.

2. followverb

   To go or come after in a sequence.

   B follows A in the alphabet.

   Etymology: folwen, folgen from folgian, fylgan 'to follow, pursue', from fulʒēnan (compare West Frisian folgje, volgen, folgen), from *fulkan 'folk'. More at folk.

3. followverb

   To carry out in accordance to (orders, instructions, etc).

   Follow these instructions to the letter.

   Etymology: folwen, folgen from folgian, fylgan 'to follow, pursue', from fulʒēnan (compare West Frisian folgje, volgen, folgen), from *fulkan 'folk'. More at folk.

4. followverb

   To live one's life according to (religion, teachings, etc).

   Etymology: folwen, folgen from folgian, fylgan 'to follow, pursue', from fulʒēnan (compare West Frisian folgje, volgen, folgen), from *fulkan 'folk'. More at folk.

5. followverb

   To understand, to pay attention to.

   Do you follow me?

   Etymology: folwen, folgen from folgian, fylgan 'to follow, pursue', from fulʒēnan (compare West Frisian folgje, volgen, folgen), from *fulkan 'folk'. More at folk.

6. followverb

   To watch, to keep track of (reports of) some event or person.

   I followed the incumbent throughout the election.

   Etymology: folwen, folgen from folgian, fylgan 'to follow, pursue', from fulʒēnan (compare West Frisian folgje, volgen, folgen), from *fulkan 'folk'. More at folk.

7. 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.

Webster Dictionary(2.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. 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

2. Followverb

   to endeavor to overtake; to go in pursuit of; to chase; to pursue; to prosecute

3. 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

4. Followverb

   to copy after; to take as an example

5. Followverb

   to succeed in order of time, rank, or office

6. Followverb

   to result from, as an effect from a cause, or an inference from a premise

7. 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

8. Followverb

   to walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling

9. 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(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. 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(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. 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  

2. 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

1. • Act
   • Be
   • Check
   • Choose
   • Ensue
   • Imitate
   • Move
   • Music
   • Obey
   • Originate
   • Persevere
   • Play
   • Practice
   • Result
   • Travel
   • Understand

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'follow' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1092

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'follow' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1243

3. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'follow' in Verbs Frequency: #43

How to pronounce follow?

1. Alex

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

How to say follow in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of follow in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of follow in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of follow in a Sentence

1. Lopez Obrador:

   Mexico will follow a respectful foreign policy of non-intervention...and right now, we don't expect to abandon that policy, that does not mean that we're not concerned about the situation in one country or another, in this case Venezuela. We're going to look into it and see how we can design, or help contribute, in the best way.

2. Sophie Swetchine:

   The best advice on the art of being happy is about as easy to follow as advice to be well when one is sick.

3. Ehsan Sehgal:

   The majority of Muslims in every Muslim country, except a few- counted Muslims, neither understand the Quran nor follow that. However, they feel proud to be a Muslim, despite the killing, lying, cheating, abusing, cruelty, distinctions, injustice, inequality, and conspiracies against each other, they stay sacred than other nations. Factually, such deeds contradict and vitiate the real Islam of the final prophet Muhammad that should be.

4. Kevin Roberts:

   We've always known that the governor is his own best communicator, whenever possible we try to put him in his own words and let him do his own talking. At Christie's events, audience members are screened by state police before entering, but they're not screened for political ideology. In an ear when many politicians and campaigns select their audiences, a Chris Christie town hall is different. Anyone who hears about the town hall is allowed to show up. Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, said town halls are popular because people like getting the chance to ask follow-up questions.

5. Deborah Birx:

   The president wanted everyone to know where this virus is so that people would be aware if they were gonna travel to that area, that that area had a very significant amount of COVID-19 or the coronavirus, and so its really to make Americans aware about traveling to New York, but also make it clear to the people who are in that area to protect them selves following the guidelines, to really stay home and really hunker down, stay at home and really follow the washing of your hands and not touching your face.

Images & Illustrations of follow

Popularity rank by frequency of use