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Glite Dictionary
to go along to get along

to go along to get along

3 8.2
Agree with others to avoid conflict
  • idiom
translation icon : seguir la corriente
  • At this juncture, we absolutely cannot afford to go along to get along.
  • just go along to get along

Much safer to go along to get along, and people will often just go along.

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Examples

  • You know, go along to get along, play it safe, make no waves.

    Get on the Bus (1996)

  • How about standing up for what you believe in instead of just going along to get along?

    Blog text (28)

  • So, students quickly learn how to go along to get along.

    Academic text (1998)

  • In our society, to a great extent, we follow the principle of "going along to get along."

    Blog text (33)

  • As most people become adults, they learn to compromise, to go along to get along, and to "settle."

    Blog text (34)

  • While it is a dictum in Washington that "you have to go along to get along," it is not the way to lead.

    Blog text (15)

  • But you can't just go along to get along, to give the appearance that you are one of the boys.

    Blog text (1)

  • Go along to get along -- that's the way it is.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Imposing a litmus test of collegiality rewards young professors who "go along to get along" rather than expressing independent scholarly judgment.

    Academic text (2003)

  • To avoid arguments, she decided to go along to get along with the team's decisions.

Synonyms

to cooperate
vsto go along to get along
543 3.3

To work together with other people to reach the same goal

is driven by avoiding conflict and keeping harmony rather than joint goal pursuit
to go along
vsto go along to get along
144 3.5

To pretend to agree with someone to avoid trouble

is steady agreement aimed at keeping harmony rather than temporary pretense
to play along
vsto go along to get along
  • Informal
54 4.2

To agree or pretend to agree to avoid trouble

is motivated by keeping harmony and avoiding conflict rather than hiding trouble
to fall in line
vsto go along to get along
  • Informal
18 4.3

To follow rules or other people after not wanting to at first

is about seeking peace or harmony, not obeying rules or orders

Antonyms

to stand out
244 3.2

To be easy to notice because you are different or better

How Cooperative

to go by
91 1.8
to agree
∞ 1.0
to go along to get along
3 8.2
to yield
81 4.3
to oppose
∞ 2.9

Surface Forms

go along to get along infinitive
going along to get along present participle
goes along to get along third person singular
went along to get along past
gone along to get along past participle

Morphology

go + along + to + get + along

The expression strings together two phrasal-verb senses: 'go along' (to agree or conform) and 'get along' (to have harmonious relations), forming a clear causal pattern 'do X in order to achieve Y'. However, understanding depends on recognizing those phrasal-verb meanings rather than just the literal words, so the relation is partly predictable but not fully transparent to a B1 learner who only knows the individual word meanings.

Etymology

Go along to get along comes from a simple picture: if you go along with the group—walking the same way or agreeing with others—you will get along with them and be accepted. So, it means 'to act like others to avoid conflict' or 'keep the peace'.