come down

Idioms  

1. Lose wealth or position, as in After the market crashed, the Tates really came down in the world . A 1382 translation of the Bible by followers of John Wycliffe had this term: “Come down from glory, sit in thirst” (Jeremiah 48:18).

2. Become reduced in size or amount, be lowered, as in Interest rates will have to come down before the economy recovers . [Mid-1600s]

3. Be handed down by inheritance, tradition, or a higher authority. For example, This painting has come down to us from our great-grandparents , or These stories have come down through the generations , or An indictment finally came down . [c. 1400]

4. Also, go down . Happen, occur, as in What's coming down tonight? [ Slang ; 1960s]

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

come down

To this day, his calculus for greenlighting any major production seems to come down to how vastly one’s star power burns.

From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026

The jobless rate surged above 20 percent and only started to come down from 2005 onward to around eight percent now.

From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026

So how could water use in England come down to the levels seen in Denmark?

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

Gold prices could be weighed by expectations from Federal Reserve officials that monetary policy tightening could be required if inflation doesn’t come down, he says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Sometimes the men come down from the mountains, demanding provisions.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly