be down
Idioms-
Be depressed, in low spirits, as in During the winter months Sue's always down, but spring cheers her up . [ Colloquial ; mid-1800s]
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Be knowledgeable, canny, or sophisticated, as in He was really down with the new group . This usage probably originated among jazz musicians. [ Slang ; mid-1940s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
All that will be down to the Albanian state to provide to make the Trump-Kushner development viable.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
The company said it expects fiscal 2027 sales to be down 2% to 4% year over year, worse than the roughly 1.1% drop forecast by FactSet analysts.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026
The total apple haul is forecast to drop 17.9 percent from last year's exceptionally large crop, and be down 5.4 percent compared to the average harvest over the past decade.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Kieran Maguire, professor of football finance at the University of Liverpool, told BBC Sport that this could be down to clubs having greater expectations from their commercial deals.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Ginger whimpered to let me know that she wanted to be down there, but I thought that at the very least, my dog ought to stay by—and on—my side.
From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
