fall on
Britishverb
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Also: fall upon. to attack or snatch (an army, booty, etc)
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to fail, esp in a ridiculous or humiliating manner
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to emerge unexpectedly well from a difficult situation
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Also, fall upon.
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Attack suddenly and viciously, as in They fell on the guards and overpowered them . [c. 1400]
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Meet with, encounter, as in They fell on hard times . [Late 1500s]
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Find by chance, discover, as in We fell upon the idea last Saturday night . [Mid-1600s]
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Be the responsibility or duty of someone, as in It fell on Clara to support the entire family . [Mid-1800s] Also see the subsequent idioms beginning with fall on .
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.
Micron and Sandisk shares fall on fears that Google’s TurboQuant algorithm will reduce memory chip demand.
From Barron's • Apr. 2, 2026
"Supporters naturally raise their concerns and they fall on deaf ears far too much," Concannon says.
From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026
Unlike some anonymous Polymarket traders, though, the omen named for the doomed German airship couldn’t have known bombs were about to fall on Iran.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026
And her confusion and fear is also reflected in the world’s stock markets: U.S. markets are up Wednesday after a dramatic fall on Tuesday.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 4, 2026
Did she fall on the floor and lie there deciding right then that she would do it.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
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.
