pratfall

[prat-fawl]

noun

1. a fall in which one lands on the buttocks, often regarded as comical or humiliating.

2. a humiliating blunder or defeat.

pratfall

/ ˈprætˌfɔːl /

noun

1. slang,  a fall upon one's buttocks

Word History and Origins

Origin of pratfall¹

First recorded in 1935–40; prat + fall

Word History and Origins

Origin of pratfall¹

C20: from C16 prat buttocks (of unknown origin) + _fall

Example Sentences

He went on to suggest an improvement to one of Ms. Thompson’s lines and add a little pratfall at the end, and the set brightened with laughter.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

There are two vomit scenes and a pratfall where Colman lands on her face.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Her legs splay, tilt and leap readily into pratfall action.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

And the “memoir” we’re invited to observe is a wounding one, rife with heartbreak and trauma — but also, as it turns out, raunchy humor and slapstick pratfalls, literate puns and winking sight gags.

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This might be an exorcism of the time she broke her neck while doing a pratfall as Cinderella in the 2002 revival of “Into the Woods.”

Read more on New York Times

Related Words

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