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:
It’s been almost exactly 11 years since The Wall Street Journal began publishing reporter John Carreyrou’s groundbreaking coverage on the downfall of Elizabeth Holmes’s Theranos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
Captain Callum McGregor admitted Celtic were masters of their own downfall in the first half.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 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
If one looks for the first signs of the downfall of the Roman Empire it will be found to have begun with the hiring of the Goths as mercenaries.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
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
The history of Silicon Valley is full of big bets and abrupt downfalls, but rarely has anyone traded his reputation for seemingly so little reward.
From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2024
What will be so frustrating for Arsenal and Liverpool is they were both architects of their own downfalls with desperately poor performances just when they needed victory most.
From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2024
The coastal downfalls to the south-east fell in rugged masses to a vertical barrier, off the seaward face of which large, tabular bergs were grouped within environing floe.
From The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 by Sir Douglas Mawson
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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.
