Going describes the act of moving from one place to another, or the condition of a journey or task. When you're going to school, you're traveling there. When you're going home, you're heading in that direction.

The word also describes how easy or difficult something is. When a hike has rough going, the trail is hard to navigate: maybe it's steep, muddy, or full of obstacles. When things are smooth going or easy going, a task proceeds without problems. A teacher might warn that “the going gets tough” in the second half of the math course, meaning the material becomes more challenging.

You'll also hear going in phrases about current conditions. The going rate means the typical price right now: if the going rate for lawn mowing is twenty dollars, that's what most people charge. When someone says “make hay while the sun shines” or “strike while the iron is hot,” it means taking advantage of favorable conditions before they change.

In sports, announcers might say “the going was slow” when field conditions made running difficult. In everyday life, when you ask someone “How's it going?” you're really asking how things are progressing in their life, not just where they're physically moving.