go without

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

go without (third-person singular simple present goes without, present participle going without, simple past went without, past participle gone without) (idiomatic, transitive, intransitive)

1. To forgo (something).

   If you forgot to bring your toothpaste, you'll have to go without.

   • 1949, Cecil Beaton, “[Home and Abroad, 1948–51] Tangier”, in Richard Buckle, editor, Self Portrait with Friends: The Selected Diaries of Cecil Beaton, 1926–1974, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, published 1979, →ISBN, page 223:

     For days he will go without shaving, for months he lets his toenails grow; […]

2. To lack or be deprived of (something).

   The poor man's children went without supper.

   • 2016, K.A. Morini, Amanda Beth Randall, “Little House on the Pond”, in The Book: The Story of Red Tail Hawk: One Family’s Journey Through Addiction, Bloomington, Ind.: Balboa Press, Hay House, →ISBN, page 54:

     Jamie would get upset growing up over all the times she, or we, went without, but, looking back, we can see that that was what made us tough.

Related terms

• go without saying

See also

• do without