"following" in the noun sense
1. following, followers
a group of followers or enthusiasts
2. pursuit, chase, pursual, following
the act of pursuing in an effort to overtake or capture
"the culprit started to run and the cop took off in pursuit"
"following" in the verb sense
1. follow
to travel behind, go after, come after
"The ducklings followed their mother around the pond"
"Please follow the guide through the museum"
2. postdate, follow
be later in time
"Tuesday always follows Monday"
3. follow, fall out
come as a logical consequence follow logically
"It follows that your assertion is false"
"the theorem falls out nicely"
4. follow, travel along
travel along a certain course
"follow the road"
"follow the trail"
5. comply, follow, abide by
act in accordance with someone's rules, commands, or wishes
"He complied with my instructions"
"You must comply or else!"
"Follow these simple rules"
"abide by the rules"
6. follow, come after
come after in time, as a result
"A terrible tsunami followed the earthquake"
7. follow, conform to
behave in accordance or in agreement with
"Follow a pattern"
"Follow my example"
8. follow
be next
"Mary plays best, with John and Sue following"
9. adopt, follow, espouse
choose and follow as of theories, ideas, policies, strategies or plans
"She followed the feminist movement"
"The candidate espouses Republican ideals"
10. follow
to bring something about at a later time than
"She followed dinner with a brandy"
"He followed his lecture with a question and answer period"
11. take after, follow
imitate in behavior take as a model
"Teenagers follow their friends in everything"
12. trace, follow
follow, discover, or ascertain the course of development of something
"We must follow closely the economic development is Cuba"
"trace the student's progress"
"trace one's ancestry"
13. watch, observe, follow, watch over, keep an eye on
follow with the eyes or the mind
"Keep an eye on the baby, please!"
"The world is watching Sarajevo"
"She followed the men with the binoculars"
14. succeed, come after, follow
be the successor (of
"Carter followed Ford"
"Will Charles succeed to the throne?"
15. play along, accompany, follow
perform an accompaniment to
"The orchestra could barely follow the frequent pitch changes of the soprano"
16. keep up, keep abreast, follow
keep informed
"He kept up on his country's foreign policies"
17. come, follow
to be the product or result
"Melons come from a vine"
"Understanding comes from experience"
18. follow
accept and follow the leadership or command or guidance of
"Let's follow our great helmsman!"
"She followed a guru for years"
19. follow
adhere to or practice
"These people still follow the laws of their ancient religion"
20. be, follow
work in a specific place, with a specific subject, or in a specific function
"He is a herpetologist"
"She is our resident philosopher"
21. surveil, follow, survey
keep under surveillance
"The police had been following him for weeks but they could not prove his involvement in the bombing"
22. pursue, follow
follow in or as if in pursuit
"The police car pursued the suspected attacker"
"Her bad deed followed her and haunted her dreams all her life"
23. follow
grasp the meaning
"Can you follow her argument?"
"When he lectures, I cannot follow"
24. stick to, stick with, follow
keep to
"Stick to your principles"
"stick to the diet"
"following" in the adjective sense
1. following, undermentioned
about to be mentioned or specified
"the following items"
2. following, next
immediately following in time or order
"the following day"
"next in line"
"the next president"
"the next item on the list"
3. following
going or proceeding or coming after in the same direction
"the crowd of following cars made the occasion seem like a parade"
"tried to outrun the following footsteps"
4. following
in the desired direction
"a following wind"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.
View WordNet® License