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Synonyms

fall down

British  

verb

  1. to drop suddenly or collapse

  2. informal (often foll by on) to prove unsuccessful; fail

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
fall down Idioms  

  1. Fail to meet expectations; lag in performance. For example, It was disappointing to see him fall down on the job. This expression transfers a literal drop to a figurative one. [Second half of 1800s]

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.

I don’t want to have to explain to St. Peter at the Pearly Gates that I died in a fall down the stairs at Dodger Stadium.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 10, 2026

While employers are legally required to maintain benefit records, especially for pension and employer-sponsored life insurance, they too can fall down on the job.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 20, 2025

“The Chair Company” allows us to see how anyone might fall down the chutes into which Robinson’s Joe Average easily slides.

From Salon • Oct. 13, 2025

Now decades into their adult lives, many Gen Xers have accumulated other types of debt, often causing student-loan payments to fall down the priority list after credit cards and auto and personal loans.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 1, 2025

We constructed our lives around a misunderstanding, and if ever I tried to pull it out and fix it now I would fall down flat.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

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.