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Glite Dictionary
to touch down

to touch down

45 3.6
To land on the ground after a flight
  • phrasal verb
  • /tʌtʃ daʊn/
translation icon : aterrizar
  • The plane will touch down at the airport in ten minutes.
  • the plane touched down

It was an hour from firing them to touching down on the runway.

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Examples

  • After a long journey, the spacecraft finally touched down on the moon's surface.

  • One June day, Bass watched the cropduster's plane touch down on the grass strip behind the house.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The guests have already touched down apparently.

    Destination Love (2022)

  • Get ready to touch down on one wheel, easy as you can.

    On a Wing and a Prayer (2023)

  • All right, I'll brief you when we touch down.

    The Last Stand (2013)

  • We touch down in 45 minutes in Vienna.

    Extraction 2 (2023)

  • After about three hours of flying time, we touch down in the land of the artisans.

    Academic text (2001)

  • But last week I finally touched down right here in Bali.

  • Without a sound, the glider had touched down on the grass and rolled to a stop.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • We see an Air France jet liner touch down on the runway.

    Fiction book (1997)

Synonyms

to land
vsto touch down
∞ 1.0

To come down and rest on a surface

is specific to flying machines making ground contact after flight
to put down
vsto touch down
  • Specialized
28 5.8

To land a plane in an emergency

is the general act of making ground contact after flight not only emergencies
to bring down
vsto touch down
15 3.3

Move something or someone from a higher to a lower place, for example land an aircraft

is about normal ground contact after flight rather than forced or general lowering
to set down
vsto touch down
9 3.6

To land on the ground or another surface

is limited to flying vehicles making contact with the ground after flight
to land the plane
vsto touch down
  • Specialized
8 3.5

To bring a plane down safely at an airport

is about ground contact after flight not stressing safety or airport use

Antonyms

to take off
478 1.9

To leave the ground and begin to fly

to ascend
54 4.0

To move upward to a higher place, for example up a hill or into the sky

How Gentle

to alight
2 6.6
to touch down
45 3.6
to land
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

touch down infinitive
touched down past
touched down past participle
touching down present participle
touches down third person singular

Morphology

touch + down

The meaning 'to land/make contact with the ground' is directly and compositionally derived from 'touch' (to make contact) plus 'down' (toward a lower position), following the common English motion verb + particle pattern. This is a literal physical action that is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would very likely infer the MWE's meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

Touch down comes from a simple flying picture: a plane comes from the sky and its wheels touch the ground down when it lands. That's why it means 'to land' or 'make contact with the ground' after a flight.