fall
Part of speech: verb
noun
intj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: ball-games
cricket
curling
games
government
heading
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
nautical
politics
sports
transport
war
wrestling
Etymology: Verb from Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan (“to fall, fail, decay, die, attack”), from Proto-West Germanic *fallan (“to fall”), from Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃elh₁- (“to collapse, fall; to destroy”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots faw (“to fall”), Yola vale, vall, vole (“to fall”), North Frisian faal, fåle (“to fall”), Saterland Frisian faale (“to fall”), West Frisian falle (“to fall”), Bavarian foin (“to fall”), Cimbrian ballan, vallan (“to fall”), Dutch vallen (“to fall”), German and Low German fallen (“to fall”), Luxembourgish falen (“to fall”), Yiddish פֿאַלן (faln, “to fall”), Danish falde (“to fall”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Swedish falla (“to fall”), Norwegian Bokmål falle (“to fall”), Norwegian Nynorsk falla, falle (“to fall”); also Latin aboleō (“to destroy; to die”), Ancient Greek ὄλλῡμι (óllūmi, “to destroy; to lose”), Armenian եղեռն (eġeṙn, “crime; calamity, catastrophe; slaughter”), Lithuanian pùlti (“to fall; to attack, assault”).
Noun from Middle English fal, fall, falle, from Old English feall, ġefeall (“a falling, fall”) and Old English fealle (“trap, snare”), from Proto-Germanic *fallą, *fallaz (“a fall, trap”). Cognate with Yola vall (“fall”), Dutch val (“fall”), German Fall (“fall”), Danish fald (“fall”), Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish fall (“fall”).
Sense of "autumn" is attested by the 1660s in England as a shortening of fall of the leaf (1540s), from the falling of leaves during this season. Along with autumn, it mostly replaced the older name harvest as that name began to be associated strictly with the act of harvesting. Compare spring, which began as a shortening of “spring of the leaf”.
Inflected forms:
form: falls
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: falling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: fell
pos: verb
tags: past
form: fallen
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: fal
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: falls
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: fal
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: To be moved downwards.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Thrown from a cliff, the stone fell 100 feet before hitting the ground.
I fell unconscious on the floor.
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.
gloss: To be moved downwards.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The rain fell at dawn.
Her eyes fell on the table, and she advanced into the room wiping her hands on her apron.
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.
gloss: To be moved downwards.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To be moved downwards.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: He fell to the floor and begged for mercy.
gloss: To be moved downwards.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To move downwards.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To move downwards.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: to fall the voice
gloss: To move downwards.
pos: verb
tags: UK
US
archaic
dialectal
transitive
examples: to fall a tree
gloss: To change, often negatively.
pos: verb
tags: copulative
intransitive
examples: Near-synonyms: become, get, go, turn, come, grow, wax
She has fallen ill.
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, […]
gloss: To change, often negatively.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Rome fell to the Goths in 410 AD.
gloss: To change, often negatively.
pos: verb
tags: euphemistic
formal
intransitive
examples: This is a monument to all those who fell in the First World War.
gloss: To change, often negatively.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The candidate's poll ratings fell abruptly after the banking scandal.
The greatness of these Irish lords suddenly fell and vanished.
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.
gloss: To occur (on a certain day of the week, date, or similar); to happen.
pos: verb
examples: Thanksgiving always falls on a Thursday.
Last year, Commencement fell on June 3.
(Thus D-day fell on June 6 rather than the planned June 5.)
gloss: To be allotted to; to arrive through chance, fate, or inheritance.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: And so it falls to me to make this important decision.
The estate fell to his brother.
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.
gloss: To diminish; to lessen or lower.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: Upon lessening interest to four per cent, you fall the price of your native commodities.
gloss: To bring forth.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: to fall lambs
The shepherd[…]did[…] fall part-colour'd lambs
gloss: To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; said of the young of certain animals.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: 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
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.
gloss: To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
gloss: To become ensnared or entrapped; to be worse off than before.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: to fall into error;  to fall into difficulties;  to fall into ruin
gloss: To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; said of the face.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
I have observed of late thy looks are fallen.
gloss: To happen; to come to pass; to chance or light (upon).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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.
[…] 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.
gloss: To begin with haste, ardour, or vehemence; to rush or hurry.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: After arguing, they fell to blows.
They now no longer doubted, but fell to work heart and soul.
gloss: To be dropped or uttered carelessly.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: An unguarded expression fell from his lips.
gloss: To hang down (under the influence of gravity).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Her hair, which curled naturally, fell all over her shoulders.
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.
gloss: To visit; to go to a place.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
slang
examples: We'll fall over to the club tonight.
gloss: The act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: the fall of the snow
the fall of the water
the fall of the leaf
gloss: A reduction in quantity, pitch, etc.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: “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”.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: Canada
US
archaic
countable
uncountable
examples: 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]
gloss: A loss of greatness or status.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: the fall of Rome
gloss: That which falls or cascades.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: The height of that which falls or cascades.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A crucial event or circumstance.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A crucial event or circumstance.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A crucial event or circumstance.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A hairpiece for women consisting of long strands of hair on a woven backing, intended primarily to cover hair loss.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.
pos: noun
tags: US
countable
informal
uncountable
examples: He set up his rival to take the fall.
gloss: The part of the rope of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting (usu. plural).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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."
gloss: An old Scots unit of measure equal to six ells.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A short, flexible piece of leather forming part of a bullwhip, placed between the thong and the cracker.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Brooks fitted a new fall to his whip.
gloss: The lid, on a piano, that covers the keyboard.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The cry given when a whale is sighted, or harpooned.
pos: intj
Antonyms: ascend
go up
rise
get up
pick oneself up
stand up
beat
defeat
overthrow
smite
vanquish
ascent
increase
Related words: falls
Derived words: almost fall off one's chair
fall off one's chair
nearly fall off one's chair
atfall
befall
bottom falls out
catch a falling knife
easy as falling off a log
fair fall
fallable
fall aboard
fall aboard of
fall about
fall about someone's ears
fall about the place
fall abreast of
fall abroad of
fall across
fall adown
fall afire
fall afoul
fall afoul of
fall after
fallage
fall all over someone or oneself
fall among
fall apart
fall around
fall asleep
fall aslope
fall astern
fall asunder
fall at
fall at the crest
fall at the final hurdle
fall at the first fence
fall at the first hurdle
fall at the last hurdle
fall away
fall back
fall back, fall edge
fall back into
fall back on
fall back upon
fall behind
fall behindhand
fall below
fall between the cracks
fall between two stools
fall by
fall by the wayside
fall calm
fall classic
fall dead
fall down
fall down on
fall due
fallen
faller
fall flat
fall flat on one's face
fall for
fall forth
fall foul
fall foul of
fall foul with
fall from
fall heir
fall home
fall ill
fall in
fall in age
fall in flesh
fall in for
falling
falling block
falling in love
falling off the bone
falling-out
falling out
falling together
fall in line
fall in love
fall in lust
fall in mold
fall in mould
fall in one's road
fall in one's way
fall in somebody's heart
fall in someone's heart
fall in somebody's mind
fall in someone's mind
fall into
fall into a trap
fall into line
fall into oneself
fall into one's hands
fall into one's lap
fall into place
fall into somebody's heart
fall into someone's heart
fall into somebody's mind
fall into someone's mind
fall into someone's hands
fall into someone's lap
fall into the wrong hands
fall in two
fall in upon
fall in with
fall of
fall off
fall off a cliff
fall off a truck
fall off one's perch
fall off the back of a lorry
fall off the back of a truck
fall off the cliff
fall off the radar
fall off the turnip truck
fall off the wagon
fall of the wall
fall on
fall on a grenade
fall on board
fall on deaf ears
fall one's crest
fall on hard times
fall on one's face
fall on one's feet
fall on one's knees
fall on one's sword
fall on shore
fall on sleep
fall on someone's neck
fall on stony ground
fall on the crest
fall open
fall out
fall out in
fall out of
fall out of favor
fall out of love
fall out upon
fall out with
fall over
fall over oneself
fall over one's feet
fall pregnant
fall prey
fall prey to
fall short
fall short of
fall short to
fall sick
fall silent
fallstreaks
fallstreifen
fall through
fall through the cracks
fall through the floor
fall to
fall to be
fall to bits
fall together
fall to loggerheads
fall to mold
fall to mould
fall to oneself
fall to one's knees
fall to one's lot
fall to one's share
fall to pieces
fall to powder
fall to someone's lot
fall to the ground
fall under
fall unto
fall up
fall upon
fall upon someone's neck
fall victim to
fall what can fall
fall what will fall
fall with
fall within
fell
foul fall
he who digs a pit for others falls in himself
how the mighty have fallen
let fall
let the chips fall where they may
let the dice fall where they may
like falling off a log
may fall
may-fall
of-fall
refall
scales fall from someone's eyes
spring forward, fall back
tendency of the rate of profit to fall
the apple does not fall far from the stem
the apple does not fall far from the tree
the apple doesn't fall far from the tree
the apple never falls far from the tree
the apple does not fall far from the trunk
the bigger they are, the harder they fall
the bigger they come, the harder they fall
the curtain falls
the nut does not fall far from the tree
the rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain
the sky fell in
the sky will fall on your head
to-fall
trust-falling
under-fall
united we stand, divided we fall
until the wheels fall off
downfall
fall-back
fall from grace
misfall
overfall
accidental fall
airfall
angle of fall
ashfall
ash fall
backfall
bergfall
be riding for a fall
best-of-three-falls match
block and fall
break a fall
breakfall
break-fall
break one's fall
brothfall
byfall
catfall
center of falls
centre of falls
chainfall
cliff fall
cloudfall
crossfall
darkfall
deadfall
dead-fall
dead fall
dewfall
dew-fall
dirtfall
dogfall
dog-fall
dustfall
earthfall
evenfall
even-fall
fall-and-rise phenomenon
fall and tackle
fall armyworm
fall-block
fall block
fall-blooming
fallboard
fall-board
fall break
fall-breaker
fall-bridge
fall cankerworm
Fall Classic
fall-cloud
fall colors
Fall Creek
fall dandelion
fall-door
fall duck
fall dwindle disease
fall equinox
fall factor
fallfish
fall-fish
fall foliage
fall-forward
fall front
fall-front desk
fall-guy
fall guy
fall herring
fall-iron door
fallish
fall-leaf
fall-less
fall-like
fall-line
fall line
fall money
fall of day
fall of man
Fall of Man
fall of shot
fall of the leaf
fall of the perch
fall of wicket
fallout
fall overturn
fall-pipe
fall-pippin
fall plate
fall rate
fallrate
fall-rise
Fall River
fall-rope
fall-run fish
falls
Falls-to-Falls Corridor
fallstreak
fall supper
fall-through
falltide
falltime
fall time
fall-trap
fall turnover
fallway
fall-way
fallwear
fall webworm
fall-wind
fall wind
fall-window
fall woman
fall-wood
fally
fall zone
firefall
fish fall
flagfall
fogfall
food fall
footfall
foot-fall
forcefall
freefall
free fall
fruit fall
fussefall
give a fall
grainfall
hailfall
hairfall
icefall
ice-fall
ice fall
infall
iron fall
jawfall
jaw-fall
landfall
lavafall
law-fall
leaffall
leaf-fall
litterfall
mainfall
midfall
mid-fall
mistfall
moonfall
mouse-fall
mousefall
near-fall
nearfall
nightfall
no fall zone
nutfall
offal
onfall
outfall
parachute landing fall
penny fall
pinfall
pitfall
planetfall
pratfall
prat-fall
pratt-fall
prefall
pressure-fall center
pressure-fall centre
pride comes before a fall
pride goes before a fall
pride goeth before a fall
proudfall
rainfall
rat-fall
ride for a fall
rises and falls
rockfall
rock fall
roof fall
root-fall
sandfall
shake a fall
shortfall
shout-and-fall
slip and fall
smokefall
snowfall
snow-fall
spatfall
speck falls
starfall
stiff board fall
stonefall
sunfall
Swedish fall
tackle fall
take a fall
take a fall out of
take the fall
technical fall
terminal fall velocity
the Fall of Baghdad
the Fall of Constantinople
the Fall of France
the Fall of Saigon
the Fall of the Roman Empire
the Fall of Rome
threadfall
throughfall
tidefall
toe drain and outfall
tofall
trad fall
trapfall
trap-fall
treefall
trust fall
try a fall
two-out-of-three-falls match
underfall
waterfall
whale fall
whalefall
windfall
withfall
wrestle a fall
wrist-fall
zipper fall
Translations: