go on
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: goes on
form: going on
form: went on
form: gone on
Etymology: Structurally equivalent to go onward.
Senses: examples: text: The meeting seemed to go on forever.
text: This road goes on for another twenty miles.
synonyms: word: endure
word: abide
word: aby
word: astand
word: endure
word: go on
word: lie
word: prevail
word: hold on
word: last
word: live
word: persist
word: remain
word: stick
word: stick it out
word: stick out
glosses: To continue in extent.
examples: text: I think I've said enough now; I'm not sure I should go on.
text: He went on walking even when the policeman told him to stop.
text: One might imagine that the directors foresaw the somewhat uninspiring appearance of the future Manchester stations, and decided to start as it was intended to go on.
ref: 1957 September 24, M. D. Greville and G. O. Holt, “Railway Development in Manchester—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 615:
text: She crept up the stairs [...] On she went, across the landing, from which sprang the tall window, and up the next flight until she reached the top.
ref: 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 84:
synonyms: keep on
carry on
advance
forthgo
proceed
resume
glosses: To continue an action.
examples: text: He started the competition badly but went on to win the gold medal.
text: "Do you want to hear a joke?" — "Oh, all right, go on then."
text: The kid who starts a business selling candy out of his locker always goes on to be a major sleazeball later in life.
ref: 2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, page 63:
synonyms: word: carry on
word: continue
word: carry on
word: continue
word: go on
word: keep on
word: proceed
word: roll on
word: hunker down
glosses: To proceed (to do something).
examples: text: Will you stop going on about your stupid holiday?
text: Sam goes on and on about Pokémon.
text: Don't ask Sam about Pokémon, because he'll go on and on.
text: "I don't believe you." I shake my head. "How on earth did you remember that? I must have told you years ago."[…]
"First of all, you go on about it far more than you think you do,[…]."
ref: 2002, Jane Green, Bookends, trade paperback, published 2003, →ISBN, page 67:
synonyms: blather
prattle
rabbit
glosses: To talk frequently or at great length (about a subject).
examples: text: What's going on?
text: I really don't want to know what goes on between you and your boyfriend behind closed doors.
text: At the time, with the D-Day invasion of Europe going on, their heroism was hardly noticed. Plenty of other heroes were dying elsewhere. Plenty of bigger bits of history were being made.
ref: 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 1948, page 43:
synonyms: word: come to pass
word: take place
word: bechance
word: befall
word: belimp
word: betide
word: betime
word: chance
word: come about
word: come to pass
word: crop up
word: evene
word: eventuate
word: go on
word: hap
word: happen
word: hold
word: occur
word: pass
word: take place
word: tide
word: transpire
glosses: To happen (occur).
examples: text: Bertha's about to finish her song. Who's going on next?
text: Smith went on for Jones at left back after Jones got injured.
text: It was pitch black and then suddenly all the lights went on.
glosses: To move or proceed so as to become "on" in any of various senses.
Related terms: going on
goings-on
go on then
have a thing going on
on about
on and on
to be going on with
what's going on