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Glite Dictionary
😔 To endure difficulty 🔍 To check carefully 🍽️ To use up
to go through

to go through

∞ 3.6
To experience a difficult or painful time in your life
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡoʊ θru/
translation icon : pasar por
  • After the loss of his job, he really had to go through a tough financial period.
  • go through a process
  • go through a stage
  • go through menopause

And given what we, what we all go through, it's absurd.

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Examples

Synonyms

to experience
vsto go through
∞ 2.1

To feel something while it happens to you

is focused on difficult or unpleasant situations rather than any event or feeling
to endure
vsto go through
304 3.5

To deal with something difficult for a long time without giving up

is about experiencing difficulty rather than implying long perseverance
to undergo
vsto go through
170 3.9

To go through something often unpleasant or difficult

is more about personally experiencing and dealing with difficulty rather than being formally subjected
to get through
vsto go through
28 3.3

To pass a time that is difficult or boring

is about experiencing difficulty rather than just managing to pass time
to go through hell
vsto go through
15 7.0

To have a very hard and painful time in life

is stronger showing far greater suffering than general difficult experience
to go to hell and back
vsto go through
1 8.0

To have very hard times and still survive

adds the idea of surviving and recovery not only experiencing hardship
to go through the wringer
vsto go through
  • Informal
7.6

To experience a very difficult and stressful time

is similar but covers general difficulty without stressing extreme testing or strain
to go through the mill
vsto go through
  • Informal
7.2

To experience many hard tests or problems

is about repeated trials or scrutiny rather than a single hard experience

Antonyms

to avoid
∞ 1.0

To stay away from something or not do it to stop something bad from happening

to escape
263 1.4

To avoid being harmed or affected by something unpleasant

How Difficult

to suffer
∞ 2.0
to endure
304 3.5
to go through
∞ 3.6
to undergo
170 3.9
to face
∞ 2.2
to encounter
442 3.2

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

go + through

The meaning 'to experience or endure a difficult situation' is a metaphorical extension of the literal sense of 'go' + 'through' (to pass through something), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can often infer it means to undergo or pass an experience. However, the shift from physical movement to enduring hardship is figurative and not fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Go through may come from the image of walking 'through' a storm or dark tunnel and facing the hard part as you pass. So, it came to mean 'to experience or endure a difficult or unpleasant situation'.