going places

G

going places (idiom)
/ɡoʊ ˈpleɪsɪz/

Meanings

• To become successful or achieve great things in life or career.
• To make steady progress or show promise for future success.
• (Of ideas or things) To gain popularity or wide acceptance.
• (Literal) To travel to different locations or explore various destinations.

Synonyms: go far; get ahead; make progress; have a bright future; take off; succeed.

Example Sentences

1. Everyone can see that Sarah is going places—her work always stands out.
2. After years of practice, his art career is finally going places.
3. That new tech startup is really going places in the global market.
4. They love to go places during summer holidays, from mountains to beaches. (literal)

Origin and History

The expression “go places” originated as a figurative extension of the literal idea of movement or travel, merging the verb “go”—a word long associated with action, progress, and direction—with “places,” implying destinations or opportunities. In its idiomatic sense, the phrase reinterprets physical travel as symbolic of advancement toward success. This semantic evolution reflects a cultural valuation of mobility, both geographic and social, as the means to achievement and self-realization.

Theories of Development

Scholarly interpretations suggest several overlapping influences on the phrase’s evolution. The most accepted view traces it to early twentieth-century American English, where increased social and economic mobility during industrial growth fostered linguistic metaphors of movement and progress. Another theoretical lens emphasizes conceptual metaphor—the universal mapping of motion onto success, where to “move forward” or “go places” represents career or personal advancement.

A less substantiated theory links the idiom to the rise of the automobile age, proposing that technological movement symbolized human ambition. However, historical evidence supports a broader linguistic trend rather than a direct automotive origin, as similar motion-based idioms (“go far,” “move up,” “get ahead”) already existed in English before 1900.

Historical Context

The figurative sense of “go places” gained currency during the interwar period, when the United States experienced rapid industrialization and shifting class structures. The idiom embodied the optimism of a self-made ethos—success achieved through determination and mobility. In the 1920s and 1930s, it appeared frequently in American fiction and popular discourse, aligning with societal narratives that equated advancement with literal movement. Over subsequent decades, its usage expanded into motivational and professional language, maintaining its association with ambition, drive, and future promise.

Country of Origin

All documented evidence situates the idiom’s emergence in the United States. Its early figurative uses coincide with an American cultural moment that prized initiative and progress. The phrase’s popularity spread rapidly through print, film, and popular media, later becoming a naturalized part of both British and global English vocabularies. Its distinctly American flavor remains evident in its aspirational tone and idiomatic informality.

Earliest Printed Record

The earliest known printed use of the phrase in its literal social-travel sense occurs in Arrowsmith (1925) by Sinclair Lewis, where the author writes:

“But they fell into the habit of social ease, of dressing, of going places without nervous anticipation.”

By contrast, the earliest attested figurative use—meaning “to be successful” or “to get ahead”—appears in the Babson Institute Yearbook (1934), which states:

“He expects to enter the chemical industry where we feel sure that he is going places.“

This transition from physical mobility to social advancement captures the idiom’s full semantic journey. Around the same year, the expression entered lexicographical records as American slang meaning “to succeed” or “to make good,” confirming its established idiomatic status by the mid-1930s.

Origin Summary

The idiom “go places” thus traces a clear linguistic arc: emerging in 1920s American prose as a literal expression of movement, and by the 1930s functioning as a widely understood metaphor for success. Its enduring appeal lies in its vivid encapsulation of ambition and the forward momentum inherent in modern life—a phrase that, both literally and figuratively, continues to “go places.”

Variants

• go places
• be going places
• go far
• go a long way
• get ahead

Success, Travel