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• fall line
  fall line

  noun

  an imaginary line, marked by waterfalls and rapids, where rivers descend abruptly from an upland to a lowland.
• Fall Line
  Fall Line

  noun

  a natural junction, running parallel to the E coast of the US, between the hard rocks of the Appalachians and the softer coastal plain, along which rivers form falls and rapids

fall line

American  

noun

1. an imaginary line, marked by waterfalls and rapids, where rivers descend abruptly from an upland to a lowland.

2. Fall Line, (in the eastern United States) the imaginary line between the Piedmont and the Atlantic coastal plain.

3. Skiing. the path of natural descent from one point on a slope to another.

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Fall Line ¹ British  

noun

1. a natural junction, running parallel to the E coast of the US, between the hard rocks of the Appalachians and the softer coastal plain, along which rivers form falls and rapids

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fall line ² British  

noun

1. skiing the natural downward course between two points on a slope

2. the edge of a plateau

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fall line Scientific  

/ fôl /

1. A line connecting the waterfalls of nearly parallel rivers that marks a drop in land level.

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Etymology

Origin of fall line

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fall line Fall Line

The racer is traversing the hill perpendicular to the fall line, almost moving in an upward direction.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026

The sprawling resort does not have a single fall line from the top, but rather folds into multiple zones served by chairlifts nestled in basins, so navigation can prove confusing.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 19, 2022

On Thursday, a Netflix spokesperson said the company was raising prices “so that we can continue to offer more variety of TV shows and films - in addition to our great fall line up.”

From Reuters ● Oct. 29, 2020

While the Powhatan Indians ruled Virginia’s Tidewater region, the Monacans held sway from the fall line west to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 5, 2020

In the course of the seventeenth century the frontier was advanced up the Atlantic river courses, just beyond the "fall line," and the tidewater region became the settled area.

From The Frontier in American History by Frederick Jackson Turner

Mercer is a native of Alexandria, Va., and serves as president of the Fall Line Consulting firm, which advises companies in the clean energy sector.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2022

On March 12, the couple were wed at Fall Line Station, an events venue in Macon, before 190 guests, all of whom were required to show negative Covid tests before attending.

From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2022

The road starts to get hilly near Mill­edgeville, as the Antebellum Trail roughly follows the Fall Line, where the elevation drops dramatically before sloping and leveling off to the sea near Savannah.

From Washington Post

In the following year Robert Carter had hundreds of additional acres surveyed, in what is now Prince William County, as he extended his holdings above the Fall Line.

From Tobacco in Colonial Virginia "The Sovereign Remedy" by G. Melvin Herndon

Of the ninety-three inspection warehouses in operation in 1792, only about twenty were above the Fall Line; but by 1820 at least half of the 137 legal inspections were above the Falls.

From Tobacco in Colonial Virginia "The Sovereign Remedy" by G. Melvin Herndon