follow
[verb]
Synonyms:
- come after, come next, succeed, supersede, supplant, take the place of
- pursue, chase, dog, hound, hunt, shadow, stalk, track, trail
- accompany, attend, escort, tag along
- obey, be guided by, conform, heed, observe
- understand, appreciate, catch on (informal), comprehend, fathom, grasp, realize, take in
- result, arise, develop, ensue, flow, issue, proceed, spring
- be interested in, cultivate, keep abreast of, support

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Antonyms: precede, forsake
Contrasted words: herald, lead, preface, usher (in), antedate, predate, guide, pilot, steer, elude, escape, evade, abandon, desert
Related Words: displace, replace, supersede, supplant, postdate, trace, track, hunt, search, seek, dog, hound, tag, accompany, attend, convoy, ape, copy, imitate, exercise, practice

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English Thesaurus: follow, chase, run after somebody/go after somebody, stalk, pursue, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

fol‧low S1 W1 /ˈfɒləʊ $ ˈfɑːloʊ/ verb
[Word Family: noun: follower, following; verb: follow; adjective: following]
[Language: Old English; Origin: folgian]

1. GO AFTER [intransitive and transitive] to go, walk, drive etc behind or after someone else:
Are those men following us?
The patrol car followed the BMW for a few miles and then lost it.
Tom’s already gone out to Rome and his wife and children will follow shortly.
follow somebody into/to etc something
Peggy followed her out onto the landing.

2. HAPPEN AFTER [intransitive and transitive] to happen or do something after something else:
The agreement followed months of negotiation.
The assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968 was followed by that of Robert Kennedy.
there follows something
After weeks of intense fighting, there followed a brief period of calm.
Most EU countries have signed the agreement and the US is expected to follow shortly (=soon). ⇒ following³

3. COME AFTER [intransitive and transitive] to come directly after something else in a series, list, or order ⇒ following:
The chapters that follow deal mainly with mathematics.
In English, the letter Q is always followed by U.
We had vegetable casserole with a fruit salad to follow (=as part of a meal).
there follows something
There followed several pages of incomprehensible statistics.

4. as follows used to introduce a list of things that you will mention next:
The winners are as follows: in third place, Mandy Johnson; in second place ...

5. DO WHAT SOMEBODY SAYS [transitive] to do something in the way that someone has told or advised you to do it:
He followed the doctor’s advice and had no further trouble.
Follow the instructions very carefully when filling in the form.
They followed the plan that Elizabeth had worked out.

6. follow the signs/sb’s directions to go somewhere by a particular way according to road signs or to what someone has told you:
Just follow the signs for the airport.
I followed Brown’s directions and found the farm quite easily.

7. DO THE SAME THING [intransitive and transitive] to do the same thing as someone else:
Some state schools follow the example of private schools in asking parents to donate money.
Environmentalists are urging the government to follow the lead of Scandinavian countries in this matter.
She’s just like any young woman who enjoys following the latest fashions (=wearing fashionable clothes).
follow somebody into something (=do the same job as someone else)
He does not want to follow his father into a scientific career.

8. BELIEVE IN SOMETHING [transitive] to believe in and obey a particular set of religious or political ideas

9. GO IN PARTICULAR DIRECTION [transitive]
a) to continue along a particular road, river etc:
I followed the main road up the mountain.
Tom followed the track that leads to the old Roman road.
b) to go in the same direction as something else, or to go parallel to something else:
The road follows the line of the river.

10. UNDERSTAND [intransitive and transitive] to understand something such as an explanation or story Synonym : grasp:
I didn’t quite follow what he was saying.
easy/difficult/hard etc to follow
The plot is a little difficult to follow.

11. BE A RESULT [intransitive] to be true as a result of something else that is true
follow from
The conclusion that follows from these findings is that inner city schools need more investment, not less.
It doesn’t necessarily follow that you’re going to do well academically even if you’re highly intelligent.

12. BE INTERESTED [transitive] to be interested in something and in the way it develops:
Have you been following that crime series on TV?
I’ve been following his progress very closely.
She just doesn’t understand people who follow football or any other kind of sport.

13. follow a pattern/course/trend etc to continue to happen or develop in a particular way, especially in a way that is expected:
In Australia, the weather follows a fairly predictable pattern.

14. follow suit to do the same as someone else has done:
Budget companies have been so successful that other airlines have had to follow suit and lower their fares.

15. follow in sb’s footsteps to do the same job or to work or live in the same way as someone else before you, especially someone in your family:
He is a doctor and expects his son to follow in his footsteps.

16. BE ABOUT [transitive] to show or describe someone’s life or a series of events, for example in a film or book:
The book follows the plight of an orphaned Irish girl who marries into New York society.

17. be a hard act to follow to be so good or successful at something that it will be difficult for the next person, team etc to be as good:
We’re looking for a replacement for Sue, but she’s going to be a hard act to follow.

18. WATCH CAREFULLY [transitive] to carefully watch someone do something:
She followed Simon with her eyes as he walked to the gate.

19. THINK ABOUT/STUDY [transitive] to study or think about a particular idea or subject and try to learn something from it:
It turned out we were both following the same line of research.
If you follow that idea to its logical conclusion, we’d have to ban free speech altogether.

20. follow your instincts/feelings/gut reaction etc to do the thing that you immediately feel is best without needing to stop and think about it

21. follow the herd/crowd to do the same thing that most other people are doing, without really thinking about it for yourself – used in order to show disapproval

22. follow your nose informal
a) to go straight forward or continue in the same direction:
Just follow your nose until you come to a small bridge.
b) to go to the place from where there is a particular smell coming:
I followed my nose to the kitchen, where Marcie was making coffee.
c) to do something in the way that you feel is right:
After a few years in the detective game, you learn to follow your nose.

23. follow a profession/trade/way of life etc to do a particular job or have a particular way of life
⇒ follow-up

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

follow
verb
I. go after sb/sth
ADV. closely Johnson finished first, closely followed by Stevens and Higgins.
dutifully, obediently The dog followed obediently at her heels.
blindly She followed blindly, stumbling over stones in her path.
on You go ahead and we'll follow on later.
VERB + FOLLOW beckon (to) sb to She beckoned him to follow her.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

follow
II. happen after sth
ADV. closely, quickly, shortly, swiftly The next programme will follow shortly.
immediately in the period immediately following the election

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

follow
III. happen/be true as a result of sth
ADV. not necessarily It does not necessarily follow that sleep loss would cause these symptoms.
PREP. (on) from Several conclusions follow on from his statement.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

follow
IV. accept advice/instructions
ADV. carefully Follow my instructions very carefully.
dutifully, obediently

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

follow
V. copy
ADV. faithfully The film follows the book faithfully.
blindly, slavishly It wasn't in his nature to follow blindly. slavishly following the views of his teachers
VERB + FOLLOW be expected to, be likely to Banks are expected to follow the building societies in raising mortgage rates.
PHRASES follow suit (figurative) (= act or behave in the way that sb else has just done)

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

follow
VI. understand sth
ADV. not quite I'm sorry, but I don't quite follow you (= understand what you are saying).
VERB + FOLLOW be easy to | be difficult to, be hard to, be impossible to His argument was difficult to follow.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

follow
verb
BAD: You can go in your own car or follow me.
GOOD: You can go in your own car or come with me.

Usage Note:
Follow means 'move in the same direction as someone or something that is moving in front of you': 'I have a feeling that the car behind is following us.'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

follow to walk, drive etc behind or after someone, for example in order to see where they are going:
The man had followed her home to find out where she lived.
Follow that car!
He hired a detective to follow her.
chase to quickly run or drive after someone or something in order to catch them when they are trying to escape:
Police chased the car along the motorway at speeds of up to 90 mph.
run after somebody/go after somebody to quickly follow someone or something in order to stop them or talk to them:
I ran after him to say sorry, but he’d already got on the bus.
stalk /stɔːk $ stɒːk/ to secretly follow an animal in order to kill it, or to secretly follow a person in order to attack them:
a tiger stalking its prey
He had a long history of stalking women in his neighbourhood.
pursue /pəˈsjuː $ pərˈsuː/ written to chase someone in a very determined way:
The ship was being pursued by enemy submarines.
give chase written to chase someone or something who is trying to escape from you:
One of the officers gave chase and arrested the man.
The calf ran away and the lion gave chase.
tail to secretly follow someone in order to watch what they do and where they go:
Apparently, the police had been tailing the terrorists for months.
track to follow and find a person or animal by looking at the marks they leave on the ground:
The bushmen were tracking antelope in the Kalahari desert.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

understand to know the meaning of something, or the reasons for something:
I understand what you’re saying.
Doctors are beginning to understand what causes the disease.
see especially spoken to understand something, especially the truth about a situation or the reasons for something:
I can see why you don’t like him.
Do you see what I mean?
Oh, I see!
get informal to understand a joke, what someone says, the reasons why something is true etc:
She didn’t seem to get the joke.
Do you get me?
He explained the math homework twice, but I still don’t get it.
I still don’t get why she left.
comprehend formal to understand something, or understand why something is important:
The dream was easy to describe, but difficult to comprehend.
They had failed to comprehend the significance of the problem.
know what somebody means spoken to understand what someone is telling you, or what a situation is like, especially because you have some experience or knowledge about this:
‘It can be really hard to give up smoking.’ ‘I know exactly what you mean.’
We now know what the scientists meant when they warned about global warming.
follow to understand something such as an explanation or story as you hear it, read it etc:
The plot is hard to follow.
His instructions were easy to follow.
grasp to completely understand an idea or a fact, especially a complicated one:
Some of his theories can be rather difficult for the ordinary reader to grasp.
I don’t think Stuart really grasped the point I was making.
fathom /ˈfæðəm/ formal to understand what something means or the reasons for something, after thinking carefully about it:
She looked at him, puzzled, trying to fathom the reasons for his actions.
make sense of something to understand something that is not easy to understand, especially by thinking about it:
People are still trying to make sense of the news.
can’t make head nor tail of something spoken used when something seems impossible to understand:
I can’t make head nor tail of his plays, and I’m not sure that anyone else can either.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

follow
ˈfɔləu
See: as follows

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲