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follow on

B1 neutral intransitive
In simple words

Come or happen next, right after something else.

Literal meaning: To follow in sequence — mostly transparent.

Meanings

1 B1 neutral

To come as a natural or logical next step after something else.

"The discussion followed on naturally from the previous meeting's unresolved questions."

2 B1 neutral

To arrive at a destination after others have already gone ahead.

"You go on to the restaurant and we'll follow on once we've parked the car."

3 C1 neutral

In cricket, to be required to bat again immediately after being significantly behind in the first innings.

"England were made to follow on after being bowled out for only 180 runs."

Usage notes

Used in both general sequence ('her illness followed on from the stress of exams') and in the specific cricket sense where a team that is significantly behind in runs is asked to bat again immediately. In everyday English, the general sense is more common and cross-cultural.

Commonly used with

from naturally logically directly question discussion innings

Forms

Base
follow on
I/you/we/they
3rd person
follows on
he/she/it
Past simple
followed on
yesterday
Past participle
followed on
have + pp
-ing form
following on
continuous

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