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Glite Dictionary
⬇️ To decrease ❌ To lose 💻 To stop working 📚 To be remembered 🚢 To sink 🌅 To set (sun) 🍽️ To be swallowed
to go down

to go down

317 3.7
To lose a competition or fight
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡoʊ daʊn/
translation icon : perder
  • Despite their strong performance, the underdogs went down in a narrow loss to the reigning champions.

Get in, but who's going down Southampton?

Examples

  • And I'm not going to let my little brother go down again.

    Doctor Jekyll (2023)

  • Fialka, for example, asserts, "NATO would go down in a matter of weeks."

    Academic text (1990)

  • Well, at least we're going to go down swinging you.

  • They're facing life if they go down.

    Find Me Guilty (2006)

  • Besides, if The Roundtable does get exposed, I go down along with the rest of you.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The champion team went down to defeat in the final match of the tournament.

  • After a hard-fought battle, the challengers went down without a chance to claim victory.

Synonyms

to defeat
vsto go down
932 2.1

To beat someone in a game, fight, or contest

is used from the loser's perspective, focusing on being overcome
to beat out
vsto go down
49 3.8

Defeat others in a contest to win a job or prize

is simply being overcome without implying a narrow or close result
to knock out
vsto go down
46 3.4

To remove someone or something from a competition by defeating them

is about being beaten but not necessarily removed from the contest
to trounce
vsto go down
14 7.5

To beat an opponent by a large amount in a game or contest

is about simply being overcome rather than losing by a large margin
to demolish
vsto go down
8 3.7

Defeat an opponent completely and easily

is used to mean being overcome without the strong humiliation element

Antonyms

to win
∞ 1.0

To beat others in a contest or game

to succeed
846 2.0

To reach a goal after trying hard

How Defeated

to defeat
932 2.1
to go down
317 3.7
to lose
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

go down infinitive
going down present participle
goes down third person singular
went down past
gone down past participle

Morphology

go + down

The sense of food or drink being swallowed is directly derived from the motion verb 'go' combined with the directional particle 'down' — literally moving downward into the throat — so the meaning is compositional. This spatial verb+particle pattern is common in English and other languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would very likely infer this usage.

Etymology

Go down often comes from the picture of a player or fighter being knocked to the ground: they go and then fall down. So the phrase means 'to be defeated'.