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Glite Dictionary
🚫 To decline 🙈 To ignore
to pass up

to pass up

63 4.1
To choose not to accept a good offer or chance
  • phrasal verb
  • /pæs ʌp/
translation icon : dejar pasar
  • It's not the kind of opportunity you just pass up.
  • pass up an opportunity
  • too good to pass up
  • one you shouldn't pass up

So, you know, I'd be a fool to, you know, pass that up.

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Examples

  • At the same time, who could pass up such an opportunity?

    Fiction book (1996)

  • I believe that we would be fools to pass up such an invitation.

    A Little White Lie (2023)

  • You have to pass up a lot of opportunities that you would have taken in the past.

  • Why pass up a chance like that?

    Sound from the Deep (2017)

  • It's too good to pass up.

    For Love or Money (1993)

  • I'd say you have way too much to lose to pass up this opportunity.

    Black August (2007)

  • Can you afford to pass up the single most important adventure of your life?

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Annette isn't sure what to do, but this is too important to pass up.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • We don't usually consider bargains, but this one was too good to pass up.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • It's an amazing chance; I can't afford to pass up this opportunity to meet industry leaders.

Synonyms

to turn down
vsto pass up
312 2.9

Refuse an offer, invitation, or request

is about choosing not to take a good chance rather than simple rejection
to decline
vsto pass up
272 3.4

To say no politely to an offer or invitation

is used for choosing not to take advantage rather than polite refusal
to pass on
vsto pass up
73 3.6

Decide not to accept something, for example an offer or food

is only used for not taking a desirable opportunity not for relaying messages
to forgo
vsto pass up
30 6.3

Decide not to have or do something you want

is about refusing a desirable choice rather than general rejection
to give a miss
vsto pass up
  • UK
7.3

Decide not to go to an event or activity

is about missing a particular event rather than forgoing a desirable opportunity

Antonyms

to seize the opportunity
10 3.9

Act quickly to use a good chance

How Willing

to accept
793 1.0
to pass up
63 4.1
to refuse
716 1.7
to spurn
26 7.7

Surface Forms

pass up infinitive
passed up past
passed up past participle
passing up present participle
passes up third person singular

Morphology

pass + up

The sense 'to decline or forgo an opportunity' is built on 'pass' (let go) combined with the particle 'up' to signal letting an opportunity go, so a learner who knows 'pass' would often infer the general idea. However, as a phrasal verb the exact pragmatic meaning ('decline' vs. simply 'let go') and the use pattern are somewhat conventional and particle behavior varies cross-linguistically, so the meaning is not fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Pass up comes from the image of an offer moving along a group: if you do not take it, you pass it up to the next person. That's why it means 'to decide not to take' or 'to decline' an opportunity.