to fall down
250
1.0
- phrasal verb
- /fɔl daʊn/
:
caerse
- Why are people falling down a hill?
- fall down the stairs
- fall down a flight of stairs
- a child falls down
And that was when Joyce fell down and injured her hip.
- And that was when Joyce fell down and injured her hip.
- Weeks later, Mum fell down those very flight of stairs.
- You remember that scene when they fall down into the Bug Canyon?
- While playing, Lassie falls down an abandoned well.
- It is serious learning how to fall down stairs.
- My penis slipped and fell down a flight of porn stars.
- It's like gravity, put this bottle down, it falls down, you'd rather do anything.
Examples
-
During a real earthquake, houses fall down; we remove the rubble and carry on working.
Academic text (1993) -
She tripped over a rock and fell down on the gravel path.
-
What if you just fell down kind of like this?
-
So having that support when you fall down makes a difference.
-
Did you fall down or something?
-
I fell down when I was running.
-
While at work one day, she slipped and fell down the stairs.
-
My body grew numb, and then I fell all the way down.
Academic text (2003) -
And that was when Joyce fell down and injured her hip.
-
We all fall down.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Move or drop down from a higher to a lower place
108
3.5
To fall forward or tip onto the ground
93
4.1
To fall over or make something fall over, often suddenly when it loses balance
85
1.4
Lose your balance and drop down from something like a ladder
67
1.0
To lose your balance or stop being steady and end up on the ground
64
3.6
Touch the ground after falling or being dropped
55
4.0
To sit down or fall forward suddenly and heavily
34
1.8
To fall from a higher place to a lower place
22
3.9
Suddenly fall down because something is weak or hit hard
16
5.7
Fall down suddenly because you faint or feel very weak
10
6.5
To drop to the ground quickly to avoid danger
7
5.4
To fall suddenly, for example by tripping or by losing value
3
7.5
Drop to the ground quickly to avoid danger
1
9.1
To lose your balance and land on your backside in an awkward or embarrassing way
To fall or sit down suddenly and hit your bottom
To drop suddenly onto the floor and lie face down or stretched out
To fall or put something down heavily so it makes a dull sound
To sit or fall down suddenly and heavily, often because you are tired
Antonyms
How Hard
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from 'fall' (to move from higher to lower) combined with 'down' (toward a lower position); together they straightforwardly describe losing an upright position and moving to the ground. This motion verb + directional particle pattern is common and predictable across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will understand it.
Etymology
Fall down paints a simple picture: someone loses their balance and the action fall plus the direction down shows them going to the ground. So it means 'to suddenly lose balance and move to the ground'.