passing comment
1
3.3
- noun
:
comentario incidental
- She made a passing comment about the weather during our conversation.
- made a passing comment
You may make a passing comment, just a comment on what they're wearing.
- You may make a passing comment, just a comment on what they're wearing.
- Initially this may seem like passing comments, but as you enter the devalue and then into definitely into the discard cycle, it becomes downright mean.
Examples
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After hearing her passing comment, I realized she wasn't taking the issue seriously.
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You may make a passing comment, just a comment on what they're wearing.
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A passing comment is sufficient; just be sure you tell people the relationship is over and let them know they needn't entertain her further.
Blog text (31) -
It was just a passing comment, which Harry probably told Megan much later.
-
It was a passing comment, really; she would learn in the next few weeks that it was not one likely to have been given much thought, but she had heard him say it.
Fiction book (2000) -
Those final intervals have been the subject of passing comment but little substantive analysis by analysts of Chinese foreign policy and PRC-Latin American relations.
Academic text (1997) -
The great majority of the references to religious or "church" schools in the published hearings on the G.I. Bill are only passing comments that reveal an assumption that religious schools would be included in the legislation.
Academic text (2002) -
His passing comment on the new project sparked a lively discussion among the team.
Synonyms
220
2.5
A short reference to someone or something
128
2.5
Attention people give when they notice something
How Serious
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a remark made casually and without much thought' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'passing' (brief, incidental) with 'comment' (a remark). This adjective+noun composition follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Passing comment comes from the simple picture of a comment that 'passes' by quickly, like someone walking past without stopping. So a passing comment is a short, casual remark said without much thought or importance.