Pronunciations (7)
-
/ˈdaʊ̯n/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
-
/ˈdʌʊ̯n/
Pronunciation notes
- Atlantic-Canada
-
[dəu̯n]
Pronunciation notes
- Atlantic-Canada
-
/ˈdæʊ̯n/
-
/ˈdaːn/
-
/ˈduːn/
Pronunciation notes
- Northumbria
-
daʊn
Adverb
From a higher position to a lower one; downwards.
Usage- comparable
- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
The cat jumped down from the table.
More examples (1)
She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man.
To her humiliation Jessamy found there were tears trickling down her cheeks.
More examples (1)
Through the open front door ran Jessamy, down the steps to where Kitto was sitting at the bottom with the pram beside him.
To or towards what is considered the bottom of something, irrespective of whether this is presently physically lower.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
Go down to the bottom of the page.
As I lay on my back, a pain shot down from my neck to my waist.
At a lower or further place or position along a set path.
Usage- comparable
- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
His place is farther down the road.
The company was well down the path to bankruptcy.
More examples (1)
It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.
To the south (as south is at the bottom of typical maps).
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
I went down to Miami for a conference.
Away from the city (regardless of direction).
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
He went down to Cavan.
down on the farm
More examples (2)
down to the country
1722, Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year, London: E. Nutt et al., p. 12, But then my Servant who I had intended to take down with me [i.e. from London to Bedfordshire], deceiv’d me;
At or towards any place that is visualised as 'down' by virtue of local features or local convention, or arbitrarily, irrespective of direction or elevation change.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
She lives down by the park.
Forward, straight ahead.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
At the first intersection turn left and walk down, then turn right.
In the direction leading away from the principal terminus, away from milepost zero.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
Away from Oxford or Cambridge.
Usage- UK usage
- Dated
- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
He's gone back down to Newcastle for Christmas.
To a subordinate or less prestigious position or rank.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
Smith was sent down to the minors to work on his batting.
After the incident, Kelly went down to Second Lieutenant.
Towards the opponent's side (in ball-sports).
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
The charity match, played Sunday afternoon at Cirencester Park Polo Club in Gloucestershire, reached a dramatic climax when Prince Harry tore down the pitch but failed to score what was described as an “open goal”.
By moving further down the pitch, the batsman lengthens the distance between the ball and the stumps.
So as to lessen quantity, level or intensity.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
You need to tone down the rhetoric.
Please turn the music down!
So as to reduce size, weight or volume.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
Trim the stick down to a length of about twelve inches.
Thanks to my strict diet, I've slimmed down to eleven stone.
More examples (3)
Boil the mixture down to a syrupy consistency.
ſtew it gently till quite tender, then take it up and boil down the gravy in the pan to a quart
At that point I perhaps should have gone back through the interview and changed what I said — slightly re-worded it to better reflect my feelings about the two resolutions. But I did not think to do that. I was caught up in the crunch of trying to get it all ready for publication, and edit it down, not add more explanations to it.
From less to greater detail.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
This spreadsheet lets you drill down to daily or even hourly sales figures.
More examples (1)
Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.
From a remoter or higher antiquity.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
These traditions have been handed down over generations.
Venerable men! you have come down to us from a former generation.
Into a state of non-operation.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
The computer has been shut down.
They closed the shop down.
So as to secure or compress something to the floor, ground, or other (usually horizontal) surface.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
We need to nail down this carpet so people don't keep tripping over it.
On paper (or in a durable record).
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
You need to write down what happened while it's still fresh in your mind.
So as to be cowed into silence.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
The speaker was heckled and shouted down.
The comedy club's audience was known for hooting down timid performers.
As a down payment.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
We put £100 down on a new sofa.
You can have it, no money down.
In a downwards direction; vertically.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- in relation to a numbered clued word
- Examples
-
I'm stuck on 11 down.
Used with verbs to indicate that the action of the verb was carried to some state of completion, permanence, or success rather than being of indefinite duration.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
He closed operations. / He closed down operations.
He chased answers. / He chased down answers.
Get down.
Usage- imperative
- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
-
Down, boy! (such as to direct a dog to stand on four legs from two, or to sit from standing on four legs.)
Preposition
From the higher end to the lower of.
- Examples
-
The ball rolled down the hill.
More examples (1)
We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.
From north to south of.
- Examples
-
We sailed down the eastern seaboard.
Towards the mouth of (a river); in the direction of flow of.
- Examples
-
In this game we float sticks down the river.
From one end to another of (in any direction); along.
- Examples
-
The bus went down the street.
They walked down the beach holding hands.
More examples (1)
She got into her Dodge Omni and drove down the curving driveway towards the plantation’s main gate and onto Highway 52.
At (a given place that is seen as removed from one's present location or other point of reference).
Usage- Ireland
- UK usage
- Examples
-
I'll see you later down the pub.
To (a given place that is seen as removed from one's present location or other point of reference).
Usage- Ireland
- UK usage
- Examples
-
I'm going down the shops.
Adjective
Facing downwards.
Usage- predicative
- Examples
-
Turn the cloth over so that the patterned side is down.
You win a dollar if the down side of the card is different to the up side; otherwise, you lose a dollar.
More examples (2)
Define the event F as the event that the down face of the die is 1 or 4.
Each time the 10 cards are reshuffled, your task is to predict the letter on the down side of the top card.
At a lower level than before.
Usage- predicative
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
The stock market is down.
Prices are down.
More examples (1)
Nationwide, in 2025, homicides were down by about 18% compared with 2024, marking the largest one-year decrease on record.
Sad, unhappy, depressed, feeling low.
Usage- Informal
- predicative
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
Mary seems very down since she split up with her boyfriend.
Been down so long it seems like up to me
More examples (2)
We get down, down, down / We feel sorry for ourselves / We get down, down, down / We all need somebody's help
You say you opened up a bicycle wash and the first six customers drowned [...] Is that what’s got you down, pussy cat?
Sick, wounded, or damaged: Sick or ill.
Usage- predicative
- normally in the combination 'down with'
- Examples
-
He is down with the flu.
Sick, wounded, or damaged: Wounded and unable to move normally, or killed.
Usage- not-comparable
- predicative
- Slang
- of a person
- Examples
-
We have an officer down outside the suspect's house.
There are three soldiers down and one walking wounded.
Sick, wounded, or damaged: Stranded in a recumbent position; unable to stand.
Usage- predicative
- of a cow
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
a down cow
Sick, wounded, or damaged: Mechanically failed, collided, shot down, or otherwise suddenly unable to fly.
Usage- not-comparable
- predicative
- Slang
- of an aircraft
- Examples
-
We have a chopper down near the river.
Sick, wounded, or damaged: Inoperable; out of order; out of service.
Usage- not-comparable
- predicative
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
The system is down.
In prison.
Usage- predicative
- Slang
- Examples
-
I'm a TS who has been down for over 5 years and will be going up for parole in the next 1 to 3 years.
Having a lower score than an opponent.
Usage- predicative
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
They are down by 3–0 with just 5 minutes to play.
He was down by a bishop and a pawn after 15 moves.
More examples (1)
At 5–1 down, she produced a great comeback to win the set on a tiebreak.
Out.
Usage- Colloquial
- predicative
- Examples
-
Two down and one to go in the bottom of the ninth.
Negative about; hostile to.
Usage- Colloquial
- predicative
- with "on"
- Examples
-
She's been down on clams since a bad case of food poisoning; she's lost her appetite for them.
The prisoners here are down on gays (they bring the outside in here with them when they come in). I sometimes think they hate us because they fear to be us.
Comfortable [with]; accepting [of]; okay [with].
Usage- Canada
- US usage
- predicative
- Slang
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
Near-synonyms: feel like, would like, fancy
He's chill enough; he'd probably be totally down with it.
More examples (6)
Asker: Are you down to hang out at the mall? / Answerer: Yeah, as long as you're down with helping me pick a phone.
Asker: You down? Yes or no? / Answerer: You know I'm down for whatever.
Then again, with your name being Juanita Perez, I wasn't sure if you were more down with the Latinos or something.
He said Lunceford's band was smoother and had more musical variety and great show-band novelties, but that there was something about the way we did our things that made us sound more down with it.
And we could then feel more "down" with more unconscious guilt.
I thought, Oh, Sarah must be one of these super gentle, herbal-tea-drinking, crystal-having kind of people. And she was just super down. She belched like a sailor.
Accepted, respected, or loyally participating in the (thug) community.
Usage- predicative
- Slang
- Examples
-
What you mean, 'No'? Man, I thought you was down.
my homies is down so don't arouse my anger
More examples (2)
Nigga you ain't down. You heard what Nate said. If you ain't down for the dead homie you sure ain't down for us.
Cause you're a whiteboy, you know, an' if you get locked up you gotta be down for the Aryans and the Surenos, you know? You gotta be down.
Finished (of a task); defeated or dealt with (of an opponent or obstacle); elapsed (of time). Often coupled with to go (remaining).
Usage- predicative
- Examples
-
Two down and three to go.
Ten minutes down and nothing's happened yet.
Thoroughly practiced, learned or memorised; mastered. (Compare down pat.)
Usage- predicative
- Examples
-
It's two weeks until opening night and our lines are still not down yet.
More examples (1)
I stay with Chloe the longest. When she's not hanging out at the beach parties, she lives in a Japanese garden complete with an arched bridge spanning a pond filled with koi of varying sizes and shapes. Reeds shoot out of the water, rustling when the fish swim through them, and river-washed stones are sprinkled in a bed of sand. Chloe has this whole new Japanese thing down.
Downright; absolute; positive.
Usage- Obsolete
- predicative
- Examples
-
This, he muſt give me leave to tell him, is an abſolute, right down—falſehood.
Fallen or felled.
Usage- predicative
- of a tree
- Examples
-
Left again at 1.05 p.m., and for two miles it was over rolling county with easy grades, but a good deal of down timber.
The mere fact that there are quantities of trees near by with "loads” of down wood, does not signify that it is desirable camp fuel.
More examples (2)
Will you please let me get two loads of down wood.
The average weight of down logs in seven old-growth stands, from 250 to over 900 years old, was 53 tons per acre (118 tonnes/ha); the range was 38 to 70 tons per acre (85 to 156 tonnes/ha). The largest accumulation of down wood recorded for a stand thus far is in the Carbon River Valley […]
Travelling in the direction leading away from the principal terminus, away from milepost zero.
Usage- predicative
- of a train
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
The down train leaves at 10:05.
Verb
To knock (someone or something) down; to cause to come down; to fell.
Usage- predicative
- Transitive
- Examples
-
The storm downed several old trees along the highway.
A single rifle shot downed the mighty beast.
To knock (someone or something) down; to cause to come down; to fell. Specifically, to cause (something in the air) to fall to the ground; to bring down (with a missile etc.).
Usage- predicative
- Transitive
- Examples
-
The helicopter was downed by a surface-to-air missile.
To lower; to put (something) down.
Usage- predicative
- Transitive
- Examples
-
The bell rang for lunch, and the workers downed their tools.
To defeat; to overpower.
Usage- Figurative
- predicative
- Transitive
- Examples
-
To down proud hearts that would not willing die.
To disparage; to put down.
Usage- Colloquial
- predicative
- Transitive
- Examples
-
‘I remember how you downed Beauclerk and Hamilton, the Wits, once at our House, – when they talked of Ghosts.’
More examples (1)
Now you have a social worker who downs women who are gay! […] I have met a woman and fell in love with her and I still get humiliated and discriminated against because he (social worker) is against homosexuality and is causing a lot of confusion here.
To go or come down; to descend.
Usage- Intransitive
- Obsolete
- predicative
- Rare
- Examples
-
...that is, that the trade of the world is too little for us two, therefore one must down.
To drink or swallow, especially without stopping before the vessel containing the liquid is empty.
Usage- Colloquial
- predicative
- Transitive
- Examples
-
He downed an ale and ordered another.
After watching people downing drink on the train, I am in need of slaking my own thirst, so I pop into the station's Centurion Bar.
To render (the ball) dead, typically by touching the ground while in possession.
Usage- Canadian
- predicative
- Transitive
- Examples
-
He downed it at the seven-yard line.
To sink (a ball) into a hole or pocket.
Usage- predicative
- Transitive
- Examples
-
He downed two balls on the break.
Noun
A negative aspect; a downer, a downside.
Usage- predicative
- Examples
-
I love almost everything about my job. The only down is that I can't take Saturdays off.
A grudge (on someone).
Usage- Dated
- predicative
- Examples
-
She had a down on me. I don't know what for, I'm sure; because I never said a word.
A downer, depressant.
Usage- predicative
- Examples
-
I am on drugs that I don't need to be on. They feel if I'm on a lot of downs, then I won't complain about my prison life
An act of swallowing an entire drink at once.
Usage- predicative
A single play, from the time the ball is snapped (the start) to the time the whistle is blown (the end) when the ball is down, or is downed.
Usage- predicative
- Examples
-
I bet after the third down, the kicker will replace the quarterback on the field.
A clue whose solution runs vertically in the grid.
Usage- predicative
- Examples
-
I haven't solved 12 or 13 across, but I've got most of the downs.
The shift or period of time during which a dealer manages a given table before rotating to the next table at a casino or cardroom, which is often 30 minutes.
Usage- predicative
A downstairs room of a two-story house.
Usage- predicative
- Examples
-
She lives in a two-up two-down.
Down payment.
Usage- predicative
The lightest quark with a charge number of −¹⁄₃.
Usage- predicative
Noun
A hill; in England, especially a chalk hill.
Usage- Australia
- Southern-England
- also
- Countable
- especially
- often
- plural
- predicative
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
We went for a walk over the downs.
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England.
More examples (4)
And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown My bosky acres and my unshrubb'd down
...as they muſt needs acknowledge who have been on the Downs of Suſſex, and enjoyed that ravishing Proſpect of the Sea on one Hand, and the Country far and wide on the other.
She went by dale, and she went by down, With a single rose in her hair.
The amateur nature-lover proceeds over the down, appreciating all this as hard as he can appreciate, and anon gazing up at the grey and white cloud shapes melting slowly from this form to that, and showing lakes, and wide expanses, and serene distances of blue between their gaps.
A field, especially one used for horse racing.
Usage- Countable
- plural-normally
- predicative
- Uncountable
A tract of poor, sandy, undulating or hilly land near the sea, covered with fine turf which serves chiefly for the grazing of sheep.
Usage- UK usage
- Countable
- in-plural
- predicative
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
Seven thousand broad-taild Sheepe gras'd on his Downes;
Noun
Soft, fluffy immature feathers which grow on young birds. Used as insulating material in duvets, sleeping bags and jackets.
Usage- Countable
- predicative
- Uncountable
The pubescence of plants; the hairy crown or envelope of the seeds of certain plants, such as the thistle.
Usage- Countable
- predicative
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
More examples (2)
Down or Cotton-Thiſtle. This hath many large Leaves lying on the Ground, ſomewhat cut in, and as it were crumpled on the Edges, of a green Colour on the upper ſide, but covered with long hairy Wool or Cottony Down, ſet with moſt ſharp and cruel pricks
No candle should light it, neither should any flower adorn it, save for several dried stalks of old and withered thistles, their heads pale with silken down, held in a common glass jar.
The soft hair of the face when beginning to appear.
Usage- Countable
- predicative
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
But love him as he was, when youthful Grace, And the firſt Down began to ſhade his face
The servant to whom he put this question was a young fellow with chubby cheeks, small, dull eyes, and a round chin, covered with a colorless down.
That which is made of down, as a bed or pillow; that which affords ease and repose, like a bed of down.
Usage- Countable
- predicative
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
Thou boſom Softneſs! Down of all my Cares! I cou'd recline my thoughts upon this Breaſt To a forgetfulneſs of all my Griefs, And yet be happy: but it wonnot be.
When in the down I sink my head, Sleep, Death's twin brother, times my breath.
Verb
To cover, ornament, line, or stuff with down.
Usage- predicative
- Transitive
- Examples
-
What pain to quit the world, just made their own, Their nest so deeply downed, and built so high !
Adjective
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
lay face down
the moon is down
More examples (3)
our team is down by a run
down by a pawn
the stock market is down today
extending or moving from a higher to a lower place
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
the down staircase
the downward course of the stream
becoming progressively lower
- Examples
-
the down trend in the real estate market
being put out in a game of baseball
- Examples
-
two down in the bottom of the ninth
understood perfectly
- Examples
-
had his algebra problems down
lower than previously
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
the market is depressed
prices are down
shut
- Examples
-
the shades were down
not functioning (temporarily or permanently)
- Examples
-
we can't work because the computer is down
filled with melancholy and despondency
- Examples
-
gloomy at the thought of what he had to face
gloomy predictions
More examples (8)
a gloomy silence
took a grim view of the economy
the darkening mood
lonely and blue in a strange city
depressed by the loss of his job
a dispirited and resigned expression on her face
downcast after his defeat
feeling discouraged and downhearted
Noun
soft fine feathers
- Synonyms
(American football) a complete play to advance the football
- Examples
-
you have four downs to gain ten yards
(usually plural) a rolling treeless highland with little soil
fine soft dense hair (as the fine short hair of cattle or deer or the wool of sheep or the undercoat of certain dogs)
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
Adverb
spatially or metaphorically from a higher to a lower level or position
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
don't fall down
rode the lift up and skied down
More examples (1)
prices plunged downward
away from a more central or a more northerly place
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
was sent down to work at the regional office
worked down on the farm
More examples (2)
came down for the wedding
flew down to Florida
paid in cash at time of purchase
- Examples
-
put ten dollars down on the necklace
from an earlier time
- Examples
-
the story was passed down from father to son
to a lower intensity
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
he slowly phased down the light until the stage was completely black
in an inactive or inoperative state
- Examples
-
the factory went down during the strike
the computer went down again
Verb
drink down entirely
- Examples
-
He downed three martinis before dinner
She killed a bottle of brandy that night
More examples (1)
They popped a few beers after work
eat up completely, as with great appetite
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
Some people can down a pound of meat in the course of one meal
The teenagers demolished four pizzas among them
bring down or defeat (an opponent)
- Broader terms
shoot at and force to come down
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
the enemy landed several of our aircraft
cause to come or go down
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
The policeman downed the heavily armed suspect
The mugger knocked down the old lady after she refused to hand over her wallet
improve or perfect by pruning or polishing
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
refine one's style of writing