following
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
By surface analysis, follow + -ing.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfɒləʊɪŋ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfɑloʊɪŋ/
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: fol‧low‧ing
Adjective
following (not comparable)
- Coming next, either in sequence or in time.
- Synonyms: succeeding; see also Thesaurus:subsequent
- Antonyms: preceding; see also Thesaurus:former
- See the following section.
- 1835, Sir John Ross, Sir James Clark Ross, Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage …, Volume 1, pages 284–5:
- Towards the following morning, the thermometer fell to 5°; and at daylight, there was not an atom of water to be seen in any direction.
- About to be specified.
- Synonym: undermentioned
- Antonyms: abovementioned, aforementioned, aforesaid
- The following words have no definition […]
- (of a wind) Blowing in the direction of travel.
- The following wind sped us on our way.
Usage notes
(Senses 1, 2) When it modifies a noun phrase, it is generally preceded by the definite article the, and the combination functions as a determiner rather than a simple adjective. You can put it before a cardinal like the following two remarks instead of the two following remarks.
Derived terms
Translations
next in sequence or time
|
about to be specified
|
wind blowing in the direction of travel
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Preposition
following
- (sometimes proscribed) After, subsequent to.
- In accordance with; as per.
- Synonym: per
- Following all relevant safety instructions, administer a dose of the corticosteroid.
- Administer a dose of the corticosteroid, following all relevant safety instructions.
Usage notes
Among usage mavens, there is a long tradition of deprecating following (in its "after" sense) in favor of after, coordinate with the long tradition of deprecating prior to in favor of before; the rationale is avoiding puffery via (as some mavens call them) fancy words where plain ones would be better. However, there is an equally long tradition of writers not knowing of, caring about, or bothering with these prescriptions, as well as an enduring urge to use fancy words to try to sound formal and authoritative.
Translations
subsequent to
|
Noun
following (plural followings)
- A group of followers, attendants or admirers; an entourage.
- He had a loyal following.
- 2023 January 31, Katelyn Mensah, “Who is Mikayla Nogueira? The beauty TikToker whose face and eyelashes are all over your FYP”, in The Tab, archived from the original on 31 January 2023:
- Mikayla has 14.4 million followers on TikTok and it is growing every day, and she has accumulated over one billion likes on the app. She also has 2.5 million followers on Instagram. Both her followings accumulate to an impressive 16.9, almost 17 million followers.
- Vocation; business; profession.
- (with definite article, treated as singular or plural) A thing or things to be mentioned immediately after.
- The following is a recommendation letter from the president.
- The following are the three most important questions.
- (social media) An account which is followed.
- Coordinate term: follower
- 2014, Zhengbiao Guo, Zhitang Li, Hao Tu, Da Xie, “Weibo: An Information-Driven Online Social Network”, in Marina L.Gavrilova, C.J. Kenneth Tan, editors, Transactions on Computational Science XXII (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; 8360), Springer, →ISBN, part I (Neural and Social Networks), page 6:
- When a new user joins Weibo, he should register Weibo and get a unique ID, and then he takes some existing users as his followings and waits for others to follow him.
- 2017, Konglin Zhu, Xiaoming Fu, Wenzhong Li, Sanglu Lu, Jan Nagler, “Population Growth in Online Social Networks”, in Xiaoming Fu, Jar-Der Luo, Margarete Boos, editors, Social Network Analysis: Interdisciplinary Approaches and Case Studies, CRC Press, →ISBN, section 3 (The Data), subsection 1 (Three Online Social Networks):
- A follower can follow any other users and receive any kind of tweets from his or her followings.
- 2020, Jay Janzee, Don’t Get Too Close, Pittsburgh, Pa.: RoseDog Books, →ISBN, page 79:
- She scrolled through her [Chloe’s] page and liked a few of her pictures that were like candy to her eyes before thoroughly checking her followings. She then checked Chloe’s followers, which was well over a thousand followers.
Translations
a group of followers
|
a thing or things to be mentioned immediately after
|
Verb
following
- present participle and gerund of follow
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