Go-ahead

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Approval, agreement, or instruction to begin or proceed.

    "You can start as soon as you get the go-ahead from the president."

  2. 2
    readiness to embark on bold new ventures wordnet
  3. 3
    A flip-flop (footwear). dated, plural-normally
  4. 4
    a signal to proceed wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Progressive; exerting leadership. comparable

    "I work for a very go-ahead company that's always looking for new ideas."

  2. 2
    Dashing; energetic. comparable
  3. 3
    Being a score which gives the scoring team or player the lead in the game. not-comparable

    "The pitcher gave up the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning."

Synonyms

All synonyms
ableacceptanceadvanceadvancementadventuresomeadventurous

Example

More examples

"They were waiting for the go-ahead."

Etymology

Deverbal from go ahead. As a name for footwear, from the fact that one can't easily step backwards wearing them.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.