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go ahead

UK/ˌɡəʊ əˈhɛd/US/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/
phraseB12 meaningsNot compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To go ahead is to start or continue without waiting. Permission is not needed, or it has just been given.

As an invitation it is generous, and saying go ahead means please do. The noun the go-ahead means the permission itself, so getting the go-ahead for a project is the moment it becomes real. There is a second sense of proceeding despite something, since an event that goes ahead has not been cancelled, and that is the sense every weather forecast is being checked for.

Definitions of go ahead

  1. 1phraseproceedTo proceed with something.B1

    “The concert will go ahead whatever the weather.”

  2. 2phrasego aheadUsed to give somebody permission to start.B1

    “Go ahead, we are all listening.”

Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 2 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word