move on meaning: definition, quotations

move on

verb

Idiomatic To continue; to proceed; to go on.

After spending the night resting in an abandoned church, the group decided to move on in their quest.
Moving on again, I catch another GWR Class 802 bound for Oxford via the Cotswold Line.2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 67:

Idiomatic To start dealing with something else.

The best revenge is always to just happily move on and let karma do the rest.
I could never be what she wants of me (won't you tell her?), hey / I'll just pass her by, I don't want to make her cry (won't you tell her?) hey / (Hope she finds a happy home, I think it's best that I move on, hey (hey) / I could never be what she wants of me, hey1974, Eddie Kendricks, “Tell Her Love Has Felt the Need”, in Boogie Down!:

4 more examples

You've moved on, I know I should too My cuts are all gone, my pain feels brand new2015 May 12, Rachel Platten, Dave Bassett, Brian West, “Beating Me Up”, in Fight Song, performed by Rachel Platten:
Well, good for you, I guess you moved on really easily You found a new girl and it only took a couple weeks2021, Olivia Rodrigo, “good 4 u”, in SOUR:
In Israel, a state commission of inquiry is not merely a judicial instrument or a means of settling facts. It’s a ritual of national closure that allows people to put events in order and move on.2025 March 14, Gershom Gorenberg, “Netanyahu Doesn’t Want the Truth to Come Out”, in The Atlantic:
Part of the problem is that Ted Baker hasn’t moved on. In an era of hyper-fast fashion, where consumers can buy into new trends in the bat of an eyelid at very low cost, Ted Baker’s dedication to its staid aesthetic read like an admission of defeat long before its actual demise.2024 August 19, Ellie Violet Bramley, “Ted Baker’s closure was foreseeable from a fashion perspective”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Idiomatic, Informal To attempt a seduction, often in a way seen as disloyal or rude to another.

To physically move something or someone.

The police moved the protestors on.
"When it was all British Rail, if they had some redundant sidings, they would dump all their old trains. There wasn't really a pressure to get rid of them. Now, with private companies owning the sites, you have to pay to store vehicles. Nobody wants old vehicles sat around - they can be graffitied, vandalised - and so the onus really is to move them on.2025 October 29, James Steward tells Joe Campbell, “Thriving on the stock exchange”, in RAIL, number 1047, page 45:

To assault or attack.

African-American Vernacular

Related terms: get a move on, get over, make a move on, move in on, on the move, put moves on