"go with the flow" meaning in English

See go with the flow in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-go with the flow.ogg Forms: goes with the flow [present, singular, third-person], going with the flow [participle, present], went with the flow [past], gone with the flow [participle, past]
Etymology: Here, flow is used in the sense of "direction of movement." Head templates: {{en-verb|go<goes,,went,gone> with the flow}} go with the flow (third-person singular simple present goes with the flow, present participle going with the flow, simple past went with the flow, past participle gone with the flow)
  1. (idiomatic) To act as others are acting, conforming to common behavior patterns with an attitude of calm acceptance. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: blow with the wind, float with the stream Related terms: ride with the punches, take things as they come Translations (to act as others are acting): 隨波逐流 (Chinese Mandarin), 随波逐流 (suíbōzhúliú) (Chinese Mandarin), mennä virran mukana (Finnish), faire comme tout le monde (French), mit dem Strom schwimmen (German), να πηγαίνεις με τα νερά τους (na pigaíneis me ta nerá tous) (Greek), iść z nurtem (Polish), deixar-se ir na onda (Portuguese), плыть по тече́нию (plytʹ po tečéniju) (Russian), okrenuti se kako vjetar puše (Serbo-Croatian), ir con la corriente (Spanish), contemporizar (Spanish), följa med strömmen (Swedish), hoûler avou les leus et bawer avou les tchéns (Walloon)

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Here, flow is used in the sense of \"direction of movement.\"",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "goes with the flow",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "going with the flow",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "went with the flow",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gone with the flow",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "go<goes,,went,gone> with the flow"
      },
      "expansion": "go with the flow (third-person singular simple present goes with the flow, present participle going with the flow, simple past went with the flow, past participle gone with the flow)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Greek translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Walloon translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2016 August 28, Tom McCarthy, quoting Reince Priebus, “Reince Priebus on Trump campaign hires: ‘I go with the flow’”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "“Look, you know, I go with the flow based on what the campaign wants to do,” Priebus told NBC’s Meet the Press. “I think Kellyanne is doing a phenomenal job. I don’t know Steve Bannon, to tell you the truth, very well.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To act as others are acting, conforming to common behavior patterns with an attitude of calm acceptance."
      ],
      "id": "en-go_with_the_flow-en-verb-OY6bquKt",
      "links": [
        [
          "conform",
          "conform"
        ],
        [
          "common",
          "common"
        ],
        [
          "behavior",
          "behavior"
        ],
        [
          "pattern",
          "pattern"
        ],
        [
          "attitude",
          "attitude"
        ],
        [
          "calm",
          "calm"
        ],
        [
          "acceptance",
          "acceptance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To act as others are acting, conforming to common behavior patterns with an attitude of calm acceptance."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "ride with the punches"
        },
        {
          "word": "take things as they come"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "blow with the wind"
        },
        {
          "word": "float with the stream"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "隨波逐流"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "suíbōzhúliú",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "随波逐流"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "mennä virran mukana"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "faire comme tout le monde"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "mit dem Strom schwimmen"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "na pigaíneis me ta nerá tous",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "να πηγαίνεις με τα νερά τους"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "iść z nurtem"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "deixar-se ir na onda"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "plytʹ po tečéniju",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "плыть по тече́нию"
        },
        {
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "okrenuti se kako vjetar puše"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "ir con la corriente"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "contemporizar"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "följa med strömmen"
        },
        {
          "code": "wa",
          "lang": "Walloon",
          "sense": "to act as others are acting",
          "word": "hoûler avou les leus et bawer avou les tchéns"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-go with the flow.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/03/En-au-go_with_the_flow.ogg/En-au-go_with_the_flow.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/En-au-go_with_the_flow.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "go with the flow"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "Here, flow is used in the sense of \"direction of movement.\"",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "goes with the flow",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "going with the flow",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "went with the flow",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gone with the flow",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "go<goes,,went,gone> with the flow"
      },
      "expansion": "go with the flow (third-person singular simple present goes with the flow, present participle going with the flow, simple past went with the flow, past participle gone with the flow)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "ride with the punches"
    },
    {
      "word": "take things as they come"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English rhyming phrases",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Greek translations",
        "Terms with Mandarin translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Portuguese translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Terms with Swedish translations",
        "Terms with Walloon translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2016 August 28, Tom McCarthy, quoting Reince Priebus, “Reince Priebus on Trump campaign hires: ‘I go with the flow’”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "“Look, you know, I go with the flow based on what the campaign wants to do,” Priebus told NBC’s Meet the Press. “I think Kellyanne is doing a phenomenal job. I don’t know Steve Bannon, to tell you the truth, very well.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To act as others are acting, conforming to common behavior patterns with an attitude of calm acceptance."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "conform",
          "conform"
        ],
        [
          "common",
          "common"
        ],
        [
          "behavior",
          "behavior"
        ],
        [
          "pattern",
          "pattern"
        ],
        [
          "attitude",
          "attitude"
        ],
        [
          "calm",
          "calm"
        ],
        [
          "acceptance",
          "acceptance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To act as others are acting, conforming to common behavior patterns with an attitude of calm acceptance."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "blow with the wind"
        },
        {
          "word": "float with the stream"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-go with the flow.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/03/En-au-go_with_the_flow.ogg/En-au-go_with_the_flow.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/En-au-go_with_the_flow.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "隨波逐流"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "suíbōzhúliú",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "随波逐流"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "mennä virran mukana"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "faire comme tout le monde"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "mit dem Strom schwimmen"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "na pigaíneis me ta nerá tous",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "να πηγαίνεις με τα νερά τους"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "iść z nurtem"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "deixar-se ir na onda"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "plytʹ po tečéniju",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "плыть по тече́нию"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "okrenuti se kako vjetar puše"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "ir con la corriente"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "contemporizar"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "följa med strömmen"
    },
    {
      "code": "wa",
      "lang": "Walloon",
      "sense": "to act as others are acting",
      "word": "hoûler avou les leus et bawer avou les tchéns"
    }
  ],
  "word": "go with the flow"
}

Download raw JSONL data for go with the flow meaning in English (4.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (65a6e81 and 0dbea76). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.