Pronunciations (11)
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/fɔːl/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/foːl/
Pronunciation notes
- British
- Southern
- Standard
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/fɔl/
Pronunciation notes
- Scotland
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/faːl/
Pronunciation notes
- Northumbria
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/fɔl/
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/fɑl/
Pronunciation notes
- cot-caught-merger
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/fɒl/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
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/foːl/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- New-Zealand
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fɔːl
Pronunciation notes
- GB
-
fɔl
Pronunciation notes
- US
-
fɑl
Verb
To be moved downwards. To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
-
Leaves fall from the trees.
Thrown from a cliff, the stone fell 100 feet before hitting the ground.
I fell unconscious on the floor.
More examples (1)
There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
To be moved downwards. To come down, to drop or descend.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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The rain fell at dawn.
Her eyes fell on the table, and she advanced into the room wiping her hands on her apron.
More examples (1)
The study not only showed IQ variance between children the same parents, but because the authors had the IQ scores of various parents, it demonstrated that parents with higher IQs tended to have more kids, ruling out the dysgenic fertility theory as a driver of falling IQ scores and highlighting the role of environmental factors instead.
To be moved downwards. To come as if by dropping down.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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More examples (4)
Once or twice a noise fell upon his quick ear, and we halted, he standing revolver in hand in an attitude of defense. Each time, however, we ascertained that we had no occasion for alarm, the noise being made by some animal or bird ...
And then a sudden calm fell on us like a cloud of fear. There! on the table, lay the Jewel of Seven Stars, shining and sparkling with lurid light, as though each of the seven points of each of the seven stars gleamed through blood!
Shortly afterwards a breeze came up from the N […] dark clouds closing in over everything. At 3 in the afternoon the breeze came up from the S with a thick drizzle. Thus night fell, and thus we passed the rest of it.
The horse wrangler, a tall, bronzed-face man, waved to the wagon driver. The driver laughed. […] The canvas cover rolled up suddenly and a terrible noise fell over the desert.
To be moved downwards. To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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He fell to the floor and begged for mercy.
To be moved downwards. To be brought to the ground.
Usage- Intransitive
To move downwards. To let fall; to drop.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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For every tear he falls, a Trojan bleeds.
Ghoaſt [of Clarence]. […] / To morrow in the battaile thinke on me, / And fall thy edgeleſſe ſword, diſpaire and die.
To move downwards. To sink; to depress.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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to fall the voice
To move downwards. To fell; to cut down.
Usage- UK usage
- US usage
- Archaic
- dialectal
- Transitive
- Examples
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to fall a tree
To change, often negatively. To become (chiefly used with negative states).
Usage- copulative
- Intransitive
- in idiomatic expressions
- Examples
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He fell ill during the trip.
Near-synonyms: become, get, go, turn, come, grow, wax
She has fallen ill.
More examples (5)
The children fell asleep in the back of the car.
When did you first fall in love?
fall silent, fall sick, fall pregnant, fall victim to something
At length they stood at the corner from which they had begun, and it had fallen quite dark, and they were no wiser.
Shortly afterwards a breeze came up from the N and then it fell calm, […]
To change, often negatively. To collapse; to be overthrown or defeated.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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Rome fell to the Goths in 410 AD.
To change, often negatively. To die, especially in battle or by disease.
Usage- euphemistic
- Formal
- Intransitive
- Examples
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This is a monument to all those who fell in the First World War.
To change, often negatively. To become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc.).
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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Prices fell last month.
The candidate's poll ratings fell abruptly after the banking scandal.
The greatness of these Irish lords suddenly fell and vanished.
More examples (2)
Towards the following morning, the thermometer fell to 5°; and at daylight, there was not an atom of water to be seen in any direction.
Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.[…]One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished. Modern society may not have done anything about war. But peace is a lot more peaceful.
To occur (on a certain day of the week, date, or similar); to happen.
- Examples
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My birthday falls on a Sunday this year.
Thanksgiving always falls on a Thursday.
Last year, Commencement fell on June 3.
More examples (1)
(Thus D-day fell on June 6 rather than the planned June 5.)
To be allotted to; to arrive through chance, fate, or inheritance.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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And so it falls to me to make this important decision.
The estate fell to his brother.
More examples (2)
The kingdom fell into the hands of his rivals.
If to her share some female errors fall, / Look on her face, and you'll forget them all.
To diminish; to lessen or lower.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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Upon lessening interest to four per cent, you fall the price of your native commodities.
To bring forth.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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to fall lambs
The shepherd[…]did[…] fall part-colour'd lambs
To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; said of the young of certain animals.
Usage- Intransitive
- Obsolete
- Examples
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As for Calves newly fallen, you must leave them with good Litter of fresh Straw until such qime as the Cows have licked and cleansed them,
My intended remarks are on the cords , and wiping dry the newly fallen calf
More examples (2)
another writer, adopting a similar opinion, affirms that it results from the lambs not being docked at a sufficiently early period; for "sometimes the ewe, in the ardour of her maternal affection, chews away the tail from her newly-fallen lamb, and none of these are afterwards affectd by the sturdy;
The newly fallen lambs are a peculiar sight, as they invariably come spotted or black ; but while the head and legs retain their inky black color, the wool grows out white as with the other Down breeds.
To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
To become ensnared or entrapped; to be worse off than before.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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to fall into error; to fall into difficulties; to fall into ruin
To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; said of the face.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
I have observed of late thy looks are fallen.
To happen; to come to pass; to chance or light (upon).
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall.
[…]An the worst fall that ever fell, I hope I shall make shift to go without him.
More examples (2)
[…] Polybius tells us, the beſt Government is that which conſiſts of three Forms, Regno, Optimatium, & Populi imperio. Which may be fairly Tranſlated, the Kings, Lords and Commons. […] the Romans fell upon this Model purely by chance, (which I take to have been Nature and common Reaſon) but the Spartans by Thought and Deſign.
1879, Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology Volume II – Part IV: Ceremonial Institutions Primitive men […] do not make laws, they fall into customs.
To begin with haste, ardour, or vehemence; to rush or hurry.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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After arguing, they fell to blows.
They now no longer doubted, but fell to work heart and soul.
To be dropped or uttered carelessly.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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An unguarded expression fell from his lips.
To hang down (under the influence of gravity).
Usage- Intransitive
- of a fabric
- Examples
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An Empire-style dress has a high waistline – directly under the bust – from which the dress falls all the way to a hem as low as the floor.
Her hair, which curled naturally, fell all over her shoulders.
More examples (1)
The flutters of drapery falling from the arms of the two angels in the upper compartment of the ivory, recall those falling from the right-hand arm of the elder to the left in Houvet's Plate 50.
To visit; to go to a place.
Usage- Intransitive
- Slang
- Examples
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We'll fall over to the club tonight.
Noun
The act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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the fall of the snow
the fall of the water
More examples (1)
the fall of the leaf
A reduction in quantity, pitch, etc.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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More examples (1)
“I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.
The time of the year when the leaves typically fall from the trees; autumn; the season of the year between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice.
Usage- Canada
- US usage
- Archaic
- Countable
- Uncountable
- in Britain
- Examples
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More examples (1)
A friend has pointed out to me the following remark on this word: "In North America the season in which this [the fall of the leaf] takes place, derives its name from that circumstance, and instead of autumn is universally called the fall." [brackets in original]
A waterfall.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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The celebrated fall of the Liffey, near Ballymore Eustace, is named Pool-a-Phooka, or The Pooka's Hole.
A loss of greatness or status.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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the fall of Rome
That which falls or cascades.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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A fall of hair tumbled down one side of her body like a veil.
The heat of Daniel's gaze was nearly incendiary as he took in the fall of her hair spilling across her shoulders and down to her elbows.
The height of that which falls or cascades.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A crucial event or circumstance. The action of a batsman being out.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- of a wicket
A crucial event or circumstance. A defect in the ice which causes stones thrown into an area to drift in a given direction.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A crucial event or circumstance. An instance of a wrestler being pinned to the mat.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A hairpiece for women consisting of long strands of hair on a woven backing, intended primarily to cover hair loss.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Female patients with localized hair loss on the top of scalp could select a fall or a demiwig to camouflage crown and anterior scalp loss.
Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.
Usage- US usage
- Countable
- Informal
- Uncountable
- Examples
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He set up his rival to take the fall.
The part of the rope of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting (usu. plural).
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Have the goodness to secure the falls of the mizzen halyards.
"[...] with one overhauled fall flying and an iron-bound block capering in the air."
An old Scots unit of measure equal to six ells.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A short, flexible piece of leather forming part of a bullwhip, placed between the thong and the cracker.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Brooks fitted a new fall to his whip.
The lid, on a piano, that covers the keyboard.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
A group of woodcock, especially appearing suddenly, as if overnight.
Usage- collective
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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there had been a great fall of woodcock in the night
hen I was spending October on the East Anglian coast, there was a great fall of woodcock
More examples (1)
There'll be another frost tonight and no doubt another fall of woodcock in the covers in the morning.
Interjection
The cry given when a whale is sighted, or harpooned.
Noun
The chasing of a hunted whale.
Noun
the season when the leaves fall from the trees
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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in the fall of 1973
a sudden drop from an upright position
- Examples
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he had a nasty spill on the ice
a downward slope or bend
a lapse into sin; a loss of innocence or of chastity
- Examples
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a fall from virtue
a sudden decline in strength or number or importance
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the fall of the House of Hapsburg
the act of surrendering (usually under agreed conditions)
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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they were protected until the capitulation of the fort
the time of day immediately following sunset
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he loved the twilight
they finished before the fall of night
when a wrestler's shoulders are forced to the mat
- Synonyms
a free and rapid descent by the force of gravity
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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it was a miracle that he survived the drop from that height
a sudden sharp decrease in some quantity
- Examples
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a drop of 57 points on the Dow Jones index
there was a drop in pressure in the pulmonary artery
More examples (2)
a dip in prices
when that became known the price of their stock went into free fall
a movement downward
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the rise and fall of the tides
Verb
descend in free fall under the influence of gravity
- Examples
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The branch fell from the tree
The unfortunate hiker fell into a crevasse
move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
- Antonyms
- Examples
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The temperature is going down
The barometer is falling
More examples (2)
The curtain fell on the diva
Her hand went up and then fell again
pass suddenly and passively into a state of body or mind
- Broader terms
- Examples
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fall into a trap
She fell ill
More examples (6)
They fell out of favor
Fall in love
fall asleep
fall prey to an imposter
fall into a strange way of thinking
she fell to pieces after she lost her work
come under, be classified or included
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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fall into a category
This comes under a new heading
fall from clouds
- Synonyms
- Examples
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rain, snow and sleet were falling
Vesuvius precipitated its fiery, destructive rage on Herculaneum
suffer defeat, failure, or ruin
- Examples
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We must stand or fall
fall by the wayside
die, as in battle or in a hunt
- Broader terms
- Examples
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Many soldiers fell at Verdun
Several deer have fallen to the same gun
More examples (1)
The shooting victim fell dead
touch or seem as if touching visually or audibly
- Examples
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Light fell on her face
The sun shone on the fields
More examples (2)
The light struck the golden necklace
A strange sound struck my ears
be captured
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The cities fell to the enemy
occur at a specified time or place
- Examples
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Christmas falls on a Monday this year
The accent falls on the first syllable
decrease in size, extent, or range
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The amount of homework decreased towards the end of the semester
The cabin pressure fell dramatically
More examples (2)
her weight fell to under a hundred pounds
his voice fell to a whisper
yield to temptation or sin
- Broader terms
- Examples
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Adam and Eve fell
lose office or power
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The government fell overnight
The Qing Dynasty fell with Sun Yat-sen
to be given by assignment or distribution
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The most difficult task fell on the youngest member of the team
The onus fell on us
More examples (1)
The pressure to succeed fell on the youngest student
move in a specified direction
- Examples
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The line of men fall forward
be due
- Examples
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payments fall on the 1st of the month
lose one's chastity
- Examples
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a fallen woman
to be given by right or inheritance
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The estate fell to the oldest daughter
come into the possession of
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The house accrued to the oldest son
fall to somebody by assignment or lot; passed
- Synonyms
- Examples
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The task fell to me
It fell to me to notify the parents of the victims
be inherited by
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The estate fell to my sister
The land returned to the family
More examples (1)
The estate devolved to an heir that everybody had assumed to be dead
slope downward
- Examples
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The hills around here fall towards the ocean
lose an upright position suddenly
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The vase fell over and the water spilled onto the table
Her hair fell across her forehead
drop oneself to a lower or less erect position
- Broader terms
- Examples
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She fell back in her chair
He fell to his knees
fall or flow in a certain way
- Examples
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This dress hangs well
Her long black hair flowed down her back
assume a disappointed or sad expression
- Broader terms
- Examples
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Her face fell when she heard that she would be laid off
his crest fell
be cast down
- Broader terms
- Examples
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his eyes fell
come out; issue
- Examples
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silly phrases fell from her mouth
be born, used chiefly of lambs
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The lambs fell in the afternoon
begin vigorously
- Examples
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The prisoners fell to work right away
go as if by falling
- Examples
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Grief fell from our hearts
come as if by falling
- Broader terms
- Examples
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Night fell
Silence fell