follow*/*/*/

[ˈfɒləʊ]

verb

1) [I/T] to walk, drive etc behind someone who is going in the same direction as you

Ralph set off down the hill, and I followed.[/ex]

I was convinced there was someone following me.[/ex]

Jim opened the door and followed me down the corridor.[/ex]

2) [I/T] to happen or come after something else

The weather report follows shortly.[/ex]

In the weeks that followed the situation was very tense.[/ex]

3) [T] to pay close attention to what someone or something is doing or saying

He followed every word of the trial.[/ex]

4) [T] to obey an order, or to do what someone has advised you to do

She refused to follow our advice.[/ex]

The soldiers claimed they were only following orders.[/ex]

Follow the instructions carefully.[/ex]

5) [T] to go along a road, river etc in the same direction as it does

Follow the road down the hill into the village.[/ex]

6) [T] to be interested in the progress of someone or something

My father's followed the same football team for 40 years.[/ex]

7) [T] to understand something that is long or complicated

I couldn't follow what Professor Hope was saying.[/ex]

8) [I/T] to do the same thing that someone else has done

Canada may follow the EU's example by banning these products.[/ex]

Other students followed her lead and boycotted lectures.[/ex]

They began to offer takeaway food, and other restaurants followed suit (= did the same).[/ex]

9) [T] to happen according to a particular pattern or order

All the murders have followed the same horrible pattern.[/ex]

10) if something follows, it must be true because of something else that is true

If the two groups have the same goal, then it should follow that they work together.[/ex]

•

as follows — used when you are going to give more details about something[/ex]

[i]The first line of the poem goes as follows: I wandered lonely as a cloud...[/ex]

See:

footstep

- follow sb around

- follow (sth) through

- follow sth up