Pass vs. Give — What's the Difference?

To give approval or endorsement.

To freely transfer possession of something to someone.

To hand over something to another person.

To perform or execute an action.

To throw or kick a ball to a teammate in sports.

To provide support or a service.

To transmit information.

To allow or permit.

To move past or through a place.

To yield or collapse under pressure.

To move on or ahead; proceed

Freely transfer the possession of (something) to (someone)

To extend; run

Cause or allow (someone or something) to have or experience (something); provide with

To move by or in front of something

Carry out or perform (a specified action)

To move past another vehicle

Yield as a product or result

To gain passage despite obstacles

Concede (something) as valid or deserved in respect of (someone)

To move past in time; elapse

State or put forward (information or argument)

To be transferred from one to another; circulate

Alter in shape under pressure rather than resist or break

(Sports) To transfer a ball or puck to a teammate.

Capacity to bend or alter in shape under pressure

To be communicated or exchanged between persons

To make a present of

To be transferred or conveyed to another by will or deed

To place in the hands of; pass

To undergo transition from one condition, form, quality, or characteristic to another

To deliver in exchange or recompense; pay

To come to an end

To let go for a price; sell

To cease to exist; die. Often used with on

To administer

To happen; take place

To convey by a physical action

To be allowed to happen without notice or challenge

To inflict as punishment

Sports & Games To decline one's turn to bid, draw, bet, compete, or play.

To bestow, especially officially; confer

To decline an offer

To accord or tender to another

To undergo an examination or a trial with favorable results.

To put temporarily at the disposal of

To serve as a barely acceptable substitute

To entrust to another, usually for a specified reason

To be accepted as a member of a group by denying one's own ancestry or background.

To communicate, convey, or offer for conveyance

To be approved or adopted

To endure the loss of; sacrifice

To make a decision

To devote or apply completely

To convey property to an heir or heirs

To furnish or contribute

(Medicine) To be discharged from a bodily part

To offer in good faith; pledge

(Sports) To thrust or lunge in fencing.

To allot as a portion or share.

To go by without stopping; proceed beyond or leave behind

To bestow (a name, for example).

To go across; go through

To attribute (blame, for example) to someone; assign.

To allow to go by or elapse; spend

To award as due

To go by without paying attention to; disregard or ignore

To emit or utter

To fail to pay (a dividend).

To submit for consideration, acceptance, or use

To go beyond; surpass

To proffer to another

To undergo (a trial or examination) with favorable results

To perform for an audience

To cause or allow to go through a trial, test, or examination successfully

To present to view

To cause to move

To offer as entertainment

To cause to move into a certain position

To propose as a toast.

To cause to move as part of a process

To be a source of; afford

To cause to go by

To cause to catch or be subject to (a disease or bodily condition)

To allow to cross a barrier

To guide or direct, as by persuasion or behavior. Used with an infinitive phrase

(Baseball) To walk (a batter).

To yield or produce

To maneuver (the bull) by means of a pase in bullfighting.

To bring forth or bear

To cause to be transferred from one to another; circulate

To produce as a result of calculation

To hand over to someone else

To manifest or show

(Sports) To transfer (a ball, for example) to a teammate, as by throwing.

To carry out (a physical movement)

To cause to be accepted; circulate fraudulently

To permit one to have or take

(Law) To convey (property) to an heir or heirs

To take an interest to the extent of

(Medicine) To discharge (a waste product, for example) from a bodily part.

To make gifts or donations

(Medicine) To introduce (an instrument) into a bodily cavity.

To yield to physical force

To approve; adopt

To collapse from force or pressure

To be sanctioned, ratified, or approved by

To yield to change

To pronounce; utter

To afford access or a view; open

The act of passing; passage.

(Slang) To be in progress; happen

A way, such as a narrow gap between mountains, that affords passage around, over, or through a barrier.

Capacity or inclination to yield under pressure.

A permit, ticket, or authorization to come and go at will.

The quality or condition of resilience; springiness

A free ticket entitling one to transportation or admission.

(ditransitive) To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.

Written leave of absence from military duty.

To transfer one's possession or holding of (something) to (someone).

A passing grade, especially when graded using a pass-fail grading system.

To make a present or gift of.

A sweep or run, as by an aircraft, over or toward an area or target.

To pledge.

A single complete cycle of operations, as by a machine or computer program.

To provide (something) to (someone), to allow or afford.

A condition or situation, often critical in nature; a predicament

To cause (a sensation or feeling) to exist in.

A motion of the hand or the waving of a wand

To carry out (a physical interaction) with (something).

(Sports) A transfer of a ball or puck between teammates.

To pass (something) into (someone's hand, etc.).

(Sports) A lunge or thrust in fencing.

To cause (a disease or condition) in, or to transmit (a disease or condition) to.

(Baseball) A base on balls.

(transitive) To provide, as, a service or a broadcast.

Sports & Games A refusal to bid, draw, bet, compete, or play.

(ditransitive) To estimate or predict (a duration or probability) for (something).

(Games) A winning throw of the dice in craps.

(intransitive) To yield or collapse under pressure or force.

A pase in bullfighting.

(intransitive) To lead (onto or into).

To change place.

To provide a view of.

(intransitive) To move or be moved from one place to another.

To exhibit as a product or result; to produce; to yield.

(transitive) To go past, by, over, or through; to proceed from one side to the other of; to move past.

To cause; to make; used with the infinitive.

(ditransitive) To cause to move or go; to send; to transfer from one person, place, or condition to another.

To cause (someone) to have; produce in (someone); effectuate.

To eliminate (something) from the body by natural processes.

To allow or admit by way of supposition; to concede.

To take a turn with (a line, gasket, etc.), as around a sail in furling, and make secure.

To attribute; to assign; to adjudge.

(sport) To make various kinds of movement.

To communicate or announce (advice, tidings, etc.); to pronounce or utter (an opinion, a judgment, a shout, etc.).

(intransitive) To go from one person to another.

To grant power, permission, destiny, etc. (especially to a person); to allot; to allow.

(transitive) To put in circulation; to give currency to.

(reflexive) To devote or apply (oneself).

To cause to obtain entrance, admission, or conveyance.

(obsolete) To become soft or moist.

To put through a sieve.

(obsolete) To shed tears; to weep.

To change in state or status

(obsolete) To have a misgiving.

(intransitive) To progress from one state to another; to advance.

(slang) To be going on, to be occurring; what gives?

(intransitive) To depart, to cease, to come to an end.

The amount of bending that something undergoes when a force is applied to it; a tendency to yield under pressure; resilence.

(intransitive) To die.

To bestow without receiving a return; to confer without compensation; to impart, as a possession; to grant, as authority or permission; to yield up or allow.

To achieve a successful outcome from.

To yield possesion of; to deliver over, as property, in exchange for something; to pay; as, we give the value of what we buy.

To advance through all the steps or stages necessary to become valid or effective; to obtain the formal sanction of (a legislative body).

To yield; to furnish; to produce; to emit; as, flint and steel give sparks.

To be conveyed or transferred by will, deed, or other instrument of conveyance.

To communicate or announce, as advice, tidings, etc.; to pronounce; to render or utter, as an opinion, a judgment, a sentence, a shout, etc.

(transitive) To cause to advance by stages of progress; to carry on with success through an ordeal, examination, or action; specifically, to give legal or official sanction to; to ratify; to enact; to approve as valid and just.

To grant power or license to; to permit; to allow; to license; to commission.

To make a judgment on or upon a person or case.

To exhibit as a product or result; to produce; to show; as, the number of men, divided by the number of ships, gives four hundred to each ship.

(transitive) To utter; to pronounce; to pledge.

To devote; to apply; used reflexively, to devote or apply one's self; as, the soldiers give themselves to plunder; also in this sense used very frequently in the past participle; as, the people are given to luxury and pleasure; the youth is given to study.

(intransitive) To change from one state to another (without the implication of progression).

To set forth as a known quantity or a known relation, or as a premise from which to reason; - used principally in the passive form given.

To move through time.

To allow or admit by way of supposition.

To elapse, to be spent.

To attribute; to assign; to adjudge.

To spend.

To excite or cause to exist, as a sensation; as, to give offense; to give pleasure or pain.

(transitive) To go by without noticing; to omit attention to; to take no note of; to disregard.

To pledge; as, to give one's word.

(intransitive) To continue.

To cause; to make; - with the infinitive; as, to give one to understand, to know, etc.

(intransitive) To proceed without hindrance or opposition.

To afford a view of; as, his window gave the park.

(transitive) To live through; to have experience of; to undergo; to suffer.

To give a gift or gifts.

(intransitive) To happen.

To yield to force or pressure; to relax; to become less rigid; as, the earth gives under the feet.

To be accepted.

To become soft or moist.

To be tolerated as a substitute for something else, to "do".

To move; to recede.

To refrain from doing something.

To shed tears; to weep.

(intransitive) To decline something that is offered or available.

To have a misgiving.

(transitive) To reject; to pass up.

To open; to lead.

(intransitive) To decline or not attempt to answer a question.

The elasticity of something that can be stretched and returns to its original length

(intransitive) In turn-based games, to decline to play in one's turn.

Cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense;

In euchre, to decline to make the trump.

Be the cause or source of;

To do or be better.

Transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody;

To go beyond bounds; to surpass; to be in excess.

Convey or reveal information;

(transitive) To transcend; to surpass; to excel; to exceed.

Convey, as of a compliment, regards, attention, etc.; bestow;

To take heed, to have an interest, to care.

Organize or be responsible for;

An opening, road, or track, available for passing; especially, one through or over some dangerous or otherwise impracticable barrier such as a mountain range; a passageway; a defile; a ford.

Convey or communicate; of a smile, a look, a physical gesture;

A channel connecting a river or body of water to the sea, for example at the mouth (delta) of a river.

Give as a present; make a gift of;

A single movement, especially of a hand, at, over, or along anything.

Bring about;

A single passage of a tool over something, or of something over a tool.

Dedicate;

An attempt.

Give or supply;

Success in an examination or similar test.

Tell or deposit (information) knowledge;

(fencing) A thrust or push; an attempt to stab or strike an adversary.

Bring about;

(figuratively) A thrust; a sally of wit.

Leave with; give temporarily;

(sports) The act of moving the ball or puck from one player to another.

Emit or utter;

(rail transport) A passing of two trains in the same direction on a single track, when one is put into a siding to let the other overtake it.

Endure the loss of;

Permission or license to pass, or to go and come.

Place into the hands or custody of;

A document granting permission to pass or to go and come; a passport; a ticket permitting free transit or admission

Give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause;

(baseball) An intentional walk.

Give (as medicine);

(sports) The act of overtaking; an overtaking manoeuvre.

Give or convey physically;

The state of things; condition; predicament; impasse.

Bestow;

(obsolete) Estimation; character.

Bestow, especially officially;

(cookery) The area in a restaurant kitchen where the finished dishes are passed from the chefs to the waiting staff.

Move in order to make room for someone for something;

An act of declining to play one's turn in a game, often by saying the word "pass".

Give food to;

(computing) A run through a document as part of a translation, compilation or reformatting process.

Contribute to some cause;

A password (especially one for a restricted-access website).

Break down, literally or metaphorically;

To go; to move; to proceed; to be moved or transferred from one point to another; to make a transit; - usually with a following adverb or adverbal phrase defining the kind or manner of motion; as, to pass on, by, out, in, etc.; to pass swiftly, directly, smoothly, etc.; to pass to the rear, under the yoke, over the bridge, across the field, beyond the border, etc.

Estimate the duration or outcome of something;

To move or be transferred from one state or condition to another; to change possession, condition, or circumstances; to undergo transition; as, the business has passed into other hands.

Execute and deliver;

To move beyond the range of the senses or of knowledge; to pass away; hence, to disappear; to vanish; to depart; specifically, to depart from life; to die.

Deliver in exchange or recompense;

To go by or glide by, as time; to elapse; to be spent; as, their vacation passed pleasantly.

Afford access to;

To go from one person to another; hence, to be given and taken freely; as, clipped coin will not pass; to obtain general acceptance; to be held or regarded; to circulate; to be current; - followed by for before a word denoting value or estimation.

Present to view;

To advance through all the steps or stages necessary to validity or effectiveness; to be carried through a body that has power to sanction or reject; to receive legislative sanction; to be enacted; as, the resolution passed; the bill passed both houses of Congress.

Perform for an audience;

To go through any inspection or test successfully; to be approved or accepted; as, he attempted the examination, but did not expect to pass.

Be flexible under stress of physical force;

To be suffered to go on; to be tolerated; hence, to continue; to live along.

Propose;

To go unheeded or neglected; to proceed without hindrance or opposition; as, we let this act pass.

Legal use: accord by verdict;

To go beyond bounds; to surpass; to be in excess.

Manifest or show;

To take heed; to care.

Offer in good faith;

To go through the intestines.

Submit for consideration, judgment, or use;

To be conveyed or transferred by will, deed, or other instrument of conveyance; as, an estate passes by a certain clause in a deed.

Guide or direct, as by behavior of persuasion;

To make a lunge or pass; to thrust.

Allow to have or take;

To decline to play in one's turn; in euchre, to decline to make the trump.

Inflict as a punishment;

To go by, beyond, over, through, or the like; to proceed from one side to the other of; as, to pass a house, a stream, a boundary, etc.

Occur;

To go by without noticing; to omit attention to; to take no note of; to disregard.

Proffer (a body part);

To cause to move or go; to send; to transfer from one person, place, or condition to another; to transmit; to deliver; to hand; to make over; as, the waiter passed bisquit and cheese; the torch was passed from hand to hand.

To transcend; to surpass; to excel; to exceed.

To cause to pass the lips; to utter; to pronounce; hence, to promise; to pledge; as, to pass sentence.

To emit from the bowels; to evacuate.

To go successfully through, as an examination, trail, test, etc.; to obtain the formal sanction of, as a legislative body; as, he passed his examination; the bill passed the senate.

To cause to advance by stages of progress; to carry on with success through an ordeal, examination, or action; specifically, to give legal or official sanction to; to ratify; to enact; to approve as valid and just; as, he passed the bill through the committee; the senate passed the law.

To take a turn with (a line, gasket, etc.), as around a sail in furling, and make secure.

To make, as a thrust, punto, etc.

An opening, road, or track, available for passing; especially, one through or over some dangerous or otherwise impracticable barrier; a passageway; a defile; a ford; as, a mountain pass.

A thrust or push; an attempt to stab or strike an adversary.

A movement of the hand over or along anything; the manipulation of a mesmerist.

A single passage of a bar, rail, sheet, etc., between the rolls.

State of things; condition; predicament.

Permission or license to pass, or to go and come; a psssport; a ticket permitting free transit or admission; as, a railroad or theater pass; a military pass.

Fig.: a thrust; a sally of wit.

Estimation; character.

A part; a division.

In football, hockey, and other team sports, a transfer of the ball, puck, etc., to another player of one's own team, usually at some distance. In American football, the pass is through the air by an act of throwing the ball.

(baseball) an advance to first base by a batter who receives four balls;

(military) a written leave of absence;

(American football) a play that involves one player throwing the ball to a teammate;

The location in a range of mountains of a geological formation that is lower than the surrounding peaks;

Any authorization to pass or go somewhere;

A document indicating permission to do something without restrictions;

A flight or run by an aircraft over a target;

A bad or difficult situation or state of affairs

A difficult juncture;

One complete cycle of operations (as by a computer);

You advance to the next round in a tournament without playing an opponent;

A permit to enter or leave a military installation;

A complementary (free) ticket;

A usually brief attempt;

(sports) the act of throwing the ball to another member of your team;

Success in satisfying a test or requirement;

Go across or through;

Pass by;

Make laws, bills, etc. or bring into effect by legislation;

Pass by;

Place into the hands or custody of;

Stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope; run or extend between two points or beyond a certain point;

Travel past;

Come to pass;

Go unchallenged; be approved;

Pass (time) in a specific way;

Guide or pass over something;

Transmit information ;

Disappear gradually;

Go successfully through a test or a selection process;

Go beyond;

Accept or judge as acceptable;

Allow to go without comment or censure;

Transfer to another; of rights or property;

Pass into a specified state or condition;

Be identified, regarded, accepted, or mistaken for someone or something else; as by denying one's own ancestry or background;

Throw (a ball) to another player;

Be inherited by;

Cause to pass;

Grant authorization or clearance for;

Pass from physical life and lose all all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life;

Eliminate from the body;

Of advancing the ball by throwing it;

In sports, passing is crucial for teamwork and strategy, facilitating the movement of the ball or puck between players to advance towards scoring.

Yes, "pass" is used in technology to describe the successful operation of tests, like software passing validation checks.

"Pass on" can mean to decline an offer or opportunity, or it can mean to communicate information to someone else.

Yes, in some contexts, "give" can be negative, such as in "give someone a hard time," implying causing trouble or distress.

Yes, "give" can be used in financial contexts, such as in phrases like "give a refund" or "give a discount," which involve transferring money back to someone or reducing a cost.

"Give" often relates to emotions through expressions like "give love," "give support," or "give sympathy," indicating the offering of emotional support or affection.

In legal contexts, "give" can refer to the granting of rights or properties, such as in a will where assets are given to heirs.

No, "give" can also refer to non-physical things, such as giving advice, giving time, or giving attention.

"Pass the buck" is an idiom meaning to shift responsibility or blame from oneself to another person.

"Pass" can relate to time as it flows or elapses, often used in phrases like "time passes" or "as the days pass."

In legislative contexts, "pass" refers to the approval of laws or regulations by a voting body, such as a parliament or congress.

While generally voluntary, "give" can imply coercion in phrases like "give in," where someone reluctantly agrees or submits.

In academic settings, "pass" usually refers to achieving a grade above a failing mark, indicating satisfactory performance.

"Give it your all" means to put maximum effort and energy into an endeavor.

"Give up" means to stop trying or surrender, while "pass up" refers to missing or declining an opportunity.