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GO ON
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I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Come to pass
Example:
Nothing occurred that seemed important
Synonyms:
come about; fall out; go on; hap; happen; occur; pass; pass off; take place
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "go on"):
contemporise; contemporize; synchronise; synchronize (happen at the same time)
turn out (prove to be in the result or end)
fall; shine; strike (touch or seem as if touching visually or audibly)
break (happen or take place)
chance (be the case by chance)
backfire; backlash; recoil (come back to the originator of an action with an undesired effect)
coincide; concur (happen simultaneously)
bechance; befall; betide (become of; happen to)
bechance; befall; happen (happen, occur, or be the case in the course of events or by chance)
happen; materialise; materialize (come into being; become reality)
come around; roll around (happen regularly)
come off; go off; go over (happen in a particular manner)
recur; repeat (happen or occur again)
develop (be gradually disclosed or unfolded; become manifest)
anticipate (be a forerunner of or occur earlier than)
fall (occur at a specified time or place)
come (come to pass; arrive, as in due course)
go; proceed (follow a certain course)
supervene (take place as an additional or unexpected development)
give (occur)
transpire (come about, happen, or occur)
intervene (occur between other event or between certain points of time)
result (come about or follow as a consequence)
arise; come up (result or issue)
break; develop; recrudesce (happen)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP
It ----s that CLAUSE
Sense 2
Meaning:
Continue talking
Example:
carry on--pretend we are not in the room
Synonyms:
carry on; continue; go on; proceed
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Hypernyms (to "go on" is one way to...):
speak; talk (exchange thoughts; talk with)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "go on"):
jog; ramble; ramble on (continue talking or writing in a desultory manner)
segue (proceed without interruption; in music or talk)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE
Somebody ----s VERB-ing
Sense 3
Meaning:
Start running, functioning, or operating
Example:
the computer came up
Synonyms:
come on; come up; go on
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "go on" is one way to...):
get going; go; start (begin or set in motion)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Antonym:
go off (stop running, functioning, or operating)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Move forward, also in the metaphorical sense
Example:
Time marches on
Synonyms:
advance; go on; march on; move on; pass on; progress
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "go on" is one way to...):
go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "go on"):
forge (move ahead steadily)
penetrate (make one's way deeper into or through)
creep up; sneak up (advance stealthily or unnoticed)
encroach; impinge; infringe (advance beyond the usual limit)
plough on; press on; push on (continue moving forward)
string; string along (move or come along)
overhaul; overtake; pass (travel past)
close in; draw in (advance or converge on)
edge; inch (advance slowly, as if by inches)
rachet up; ratchet; ratchet down (move by degrees in one direction only)
elapse; glide by; go along; go by; lapse; pass; slide by; slip away; slip by (pass by)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Sense 5
Meaning:
Continue a certain state, condition, or activity
Example:
We went on working until well past midnight
Synonyms:
continue; go along; go on; keep; proceed
Classified under:
Verbs of being, having, spatial relations
Hypernyms (to "go on" is one way to...):
act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))
Verb group:
bear on; carry on; continue; preserve; uphold (keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last)
continue (continue after an interruption)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "go on"):
hold (remain in a certain state, position, or condition)
keep going; run on (continue uninterrupted)
ride (continue undisturbed and without interference)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s VERB-ing
Sentence example:
They go on moving
Context examples:
Elinor wished to talk of something else, but Lucy still pressed her to own that she had reason for her happiness; and Elinor was obliged to go on.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Even if it seems to tell against him, go on.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
They really go on Monday; and I was within a trifle of being persuaded to stay at Lessingby till that very day!
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
We must go on, because we can't turn back.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Many women who have a miscarriage go on to have healthy babies.
(Miscarriage, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)
The dead men, however, did not hear, but were quite silent, and let their rags go on burning.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
“Pray, pray stop, Mr. Thorpe. I cannot go on. I will not go on. I must go back to Miss Tilney.”
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
“You had better go on,” said she.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Happily, many couples treated for infertility go on to have babies.
(Infertility, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)
The pain signals go on for weeks, months, or even years.
(Chronic Pain, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)
