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

to go down

84 3.8
To sink into water, like a boat that hits something
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡoʊ daʊn/
translation icon : hundirse
  • Shortly after Wheate's death, the Cerberus went down in a narrow channel near Castle Harbour.
  • ship went down

Not the music, just the sound of the ship going down.

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Examples

  • With hundreds of others, he died when the cruiser LaSalle went down in the South Pacific.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • My dad was listed among the passengers that went down in a plane crash.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The back of the boat is going down, down, down and under the water.

  • Today, if a if a ship went down with dollars, nobody died for it, it's not worth it.

    The Rich Dad Channel

  • Permission to go down with the ship, sir.

    The Wild (2006)

  • It's going down in 30 minutes.

    Alex Cross (2012)

  • But there was a craft that went down, and then a second one was seen going to its aid.

    FLATWOODS (2022)

  • Soldier Major, we just got a report of a fishing trawler going down.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Equipped with only 20 lifeboats, the Titanic went down with the loss of 1,523.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The ship began to go down after hitting the iceberg.

Synonyms

to sink
vsto go down
258 1.0

To go down below the surface of water and become underwater

is specific to ships and boats rather than general objects in water
to descend
vsto go down
150 2.7

Move from a higher to a lower place

is specific to boats becoming covered by water rather than any general downward movement
to settle
vsto go down
  • Specialized
142 4.4

To sink and form a layer at the bottom of a liquid

describes whole vessels becoming covered by water rather than particles forming layers
to submerge
vsto go down
42 3.9

To put something completely under water or another liquid

usually happens accidentally rather than being done on purpose
to go under
vsto go down
15 4.4

Sink below the water and become covered by it

is used mainly for ships and boats rather than for any object
to subside
vsto go down
14 4.8

Move down to a lower place, for example into a seat or the ground

is specific to boats becoming covered by water rather than general downward movement
to sink like a stone
vsto go down
  • Informal
2 6.7

Fall or fail very quickly and completely

refers to literal boats becoming covered by water rather than figurative failure
to crash-dive
vsto go down
  • Specialized
8.1

To go down very steeply and quickly, often for a plane or submarine

happens as an uncontrolled drop below water rather than a rapid deliberate dive

Antonyms

to rise
718 1.0

To move upward into the air, like smoke or mist

to float
645 1.0

To stay or move on water without sinking, sometimes in the air

How Submerged

to founder
2 8.1
to go down
84 3.8
to take on water
  • Specialized
11 5.5

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 for a ship comes from the picture of a boat moving down under the water until it sinks out of sight. That's why it means 'to sink'.