fall away
Britishverb
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(of friendship) to be withdrawn
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to slope down
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Also, fall off . Withdraw one's friendship, support, or allegiance. For example, After the divorce, her friends slowly fell away . [Early 1500s]
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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]
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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.
Read together, these novels circle the questions posed by “Lord of the Flies”: What are we human beings once the familiar social structures that sustain us fall away?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 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
In a third round that saw challengers rise but ultimately fall away, Wyndham Clark stood firm to position himself as the overwhelming favourite to win a second US Open title.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
But these concerns fall away when the performers start singing.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2026
As soon as the blades snapped, though, I felt the heaviness of all that hair fall away.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
