fall away
Britishverb
-
(of friendship) to be withdrawn
-
to slope down
-
Also, fall off . Withdraw one's friendship, support, or allegiance. For example, After the divorce, her friends slowly fell away . [Early 1500s]
-
Also, fall off . Gradually decline in size or strength, as in The breeze slowly fell away , or, as Shakespeare put it ( King Lear , 1:2): “Love cools, friendship falls off, Brothers divide.” [Early 1500s]
-
Drift from an established faith, cause, or principles. For example, I fell away from the Catholic Church when I was a teenager . [Early 1500]
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.
Many may have expected round one leader Jackson Suber to have had his day in the sun and fall away in round two.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
She’s the real, rare example of someone who both talks the talk and walks the walk; someone whose warm smile and message of community don’t fall away the second the cameras stop rolling.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
But these concerns fall away when the performers start singing.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2026
Conran’s herbaceous borders fall away toward a “ha-ha,” an infinity-edge garden with a hidden wall ditch to make the grass appear continuous with the fields beyond.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
He laughs again, and when he does, the walls break apart with a crack and fall away, leaving us in a circle of light.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
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.
