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Glite Dictionary
❓ To happen ➡️ To continue 🗣️ To keep speaking 💡 To start working
to go on

to go on

∞ 1.3
Happen or be taking place
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡoʊ ɑn/
translation icon : pasar
  • Yet concern about the behavior of young people has been going on for hundreds of years.
  • know what is going on
  • understand what is going on
  • see what is going on

We figure out what's going on in all domains.

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Examples

  • So, you know, nothing was going on on the streets.

  • What else is going on or been on my brain?

  • Where were you when this was going on at the time?

    Dr. Phil

  • So as a friend, what is going on with the baby thing?

    Babes (2024)

  • We need to be included whenever something significant is going on or being decided.

    Academic text (2011)

  • So you never know what's going on there now.

  • As soon as the driver realized what was going on, he jumped out.

    Academic text (2017)

  • The safety hearings are going on right now.

    The China Syndrome (1979)

  • I don't know what's going on with that.

  • The festival is a celebration that will go on rain or shine.

Synonyms

to happen
vsto go on
∞ 1.0

To take place, often by chance and without planning

is a general neutral word not focused on chance or planning
to take place
vsto go on
∞ 1.8

Happen, especially when something is planned or scheduled

is neutral and can apply equally to planned or unplanned events
to occur
vsto go on
770 2.0

Happen without being planned or expected

is neutral about planning and does not stress unexpectedness
to come about
vsto go on
105 4.0

To happen, often by chance or without planning

is a general neutral term and does not imply chance or surprise

Antonyms

to cease
324 3.6

To stop or come to an end

How Often

often
∞ 1.0
to go on
∞ 1.3
rarely
539 1.0

Surface Forms

go on infinitive
going on present participle
goes on third person singular
went on past
gone on past participle

Morphology

go + on

The sense 'to start running/operating' is directly derivable from combining 'go' (begin to run or be in action) with 'on' (into an active/operational state); a learner who knows both constituents can infer this meaning. The verb+on composition pattern signaling change into an active/working state is common in English and relatively transparent cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner is likely to understand it.

Etymology

Go on meaning 'to happen' comes from seeing things 'go on' in a place, like a busy room where actions keep moving. So when you ask 'what's going on?', you are asking what is 'happening' there.