Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to go with the wind

to go with the wind

6.2
To accept changes and change your plans when needed
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : adaptarse
  • To survive in this unpredictable environment, it's important to go with the wind and embrace new opportunities.

Like you, you go with the wind and the wave and the elements and you go along with it.

Examples

  • Like you, you go with the wind and the wave and the elements and you go along with it.

    Tom Bilyeu

  • In a rapidly changing market, successful businesses must go with the wind and adjust their strategies accordingly.

  • When plans change unexpectedly, I prefer to go with the wind rather than resist the situation.

Synonyms

to adapt
vsto go with the wind
150 3.0

To change your behaviour or ideas to deal with new situations

is more about accepting events and letting them guide actions
to embrace change
vsto go with the wind
3 3.8

To willingly accept and adapt to new situations

is less active about choice and more about following changing events
to bend like a willow
vsto go with the wind
  • Informal
6.9

To be flexible and change to deal with difficult situations

is broader covering any change rather than only tough times
to ride with the punches
vsto go with the wind
  • Informal
7.2

To accept and adapt to difficult times without giving up

is general flexibility not limited to coping with hardship

Antonyms

to resist
311 2.2

Act against authority, rules or change

rigid
70 4.2

Not willing to change ideas or ways of doing things

How Flexible

to go with the wind
  • Informal
6.2
to adapt
150 3.0

Surface Forms

go with the wind infinitive
going with the wind present participle
goes with the wind third person singular
went with the wind past
gone with the wind past participle

Morphology

go + with + the + wind

The phrase evokes the literal image of moving 'with the wind'—being carried along by a force—which maps metaphorically onto letting events carry you and being adaptable, so a learner who knows the words can often infer this general sense. However, the extension from physical motion to an attitudinal stance is metaphorical and not strictly predictable from the parts, so many B1 learners may need exposure to fix the specific pragmatic sense.

Etymology

Go with the wind comes from the image of a sail or a leaf that simply goes where the wind pushes it. So the phrase means 'to be flexible and adapt' or 'to let events take their course'.