downfall
Americannoun
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a sudden loss of position, health, or reputation
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a fall of rain, snow, etc, esp a sudden heavy one
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another word for deadfall
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of downfall
Explanation
A downfall is a sudden drop in status or strength. You might be winning at Monopoly until your opponents decide to team up against you, which leads to your downfall. Poor political decisions can result in the downfall of a government or party, and an economic depression can lead to the downfall of businesses and banks. A more literal, but less common, kind of downfall is when rain or snow falls down to the ground: "The downfall of snow will make the roads slippery tonight." The "decline in strength" meaning has been in use since the 14th century.
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.
See Examples For:
His sentencing will conclude a dramatic and protracted downfall for a preacher who at one point been preparing to take NOS global with expansion to the US.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Crook explained the accent round was his downfall.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
It also led to the downfall of the administration of KP Sharma Oli, setting in motion a series of events that culminated with the election of youthful Prime Minister Balendra Shah in March.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
In the end, the December 2024 downfall of Assad’s regime coincided with extraordinary geopolitical events.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
But, as we all know, You-Know-Who met his downfall in little Harry Potter.
From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling
Whether any of these downfalls will result in a re-examination of how men treat women writ large looks less likely.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 7, 2026
The soggy weather is expected to continue through Tuesday with the heaviest downfalls tapering off by midday Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2026
Their sudden downfalls could therefore be seen as a lack of judgement by the Chinese president.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2023
While this controversy is in its early stages, the breathless coverage related to this complaint generates a similar malevolent energy to the version that met the downfalls of Ellen DeGeneres and Martha Stewart before her.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2023
During the Munlola, the sea-breeze is silent, and the sky is clad with a very thin mist, which, however, supplies abundant downfalls.
From Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo Volume 2 by Sir Richard Francis Burton
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
