fall

See also Fall, and fäll

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan (“to fall, fail, decay, die, attack”), from Proto-Germanic *fallanan (“to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *pōl-, *spōl- (“to fall”). Cognate with West Frisian falle (“to fall”), Dutch vallen (“to fall”), German fallen (“to fall”), Icelandic falla (“to fall”), Lithuanian pùlti, Ancient Greek σφάλλω (sphállō, “bring down, destroy, cause to stumble, deceive”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: fôl, IPA: /fɔːl/, SAMPA: /fO:l/
• (US) enPR: fôl, IPA: /fɔl/, SAMPA: /fOl/
• (cot–caught merger) enPR: fäl, IPA: /fɑl/, SAMPA: /fAl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːl

Verb

fall (third-person singular simple present falls, present participle falling, simple past fell or (in archaic sense only) felled, past participle fallen or (in archaic sense only) felled)

A sign warning about the danger of falling rocks.

1. (intransitive) To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.

   Thrown from a cliff, the stone fell 100 feet before hitting the ground.

2. (intransitive) To come down, to drop or descend.

   The rain fell at dawn.

3. (intransitive) To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself.

   He fell to the floor and begged for mercy.

4. (intransitive) To be brought to the ground.
5. (intransitive) To collapse; to be overthrown or defeated.

   Rome fell to the Goths in 410 AD.

6. (intransitive, formal, euphemistic) To die, especially in battle.

   This is a monument to all those who fell in the First World War.

7. (transitive) To be allotted to; to arrive through chance or fate.

   And so it falls to me to make this important decision.

8. (intransitive) To become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc).

   The candidate's poll ratings fell abruptly after the banking scandal.

9. (intransitive, followed by a determining word or phrase) To become; to be affected by or befallen with a calamity; to change into the state described by words following; to become prostrated literally or figuratively (see Usage notes below).

   Our senator fell into disrepute because of the banking scandal.

10. (copulative) To become.

    She has fallen ill.

11. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (transitive, archaic) To cause something to descend to the ground (to drop it); especially to cause a tree to descend to the ground by cutting it down (felling it).
    • circa 1591, William Shake-ſpeare, The Tragedie of King Richard the third, Andrew Wiſe (publisher, 1598 — second quarto), Act V, Scene 3:

      Ghoaſt [of Clarence]. […] / To morrow in the battaile thinke on me, / And fall thy edgeleſſe ſword, diſpaire and die.

Usage notes

• The sense "to become" is now only used in certain set phrases and expressions; see Derived terms below.

Synonyms

• (move to a lower position under the effect of gravity): drop, plummet, plunge
• (come down): come down, descend, drop
• (come to the ground deliberately): drop, lower oneself, prostrate oneself
• (be brought to the ground):
• (collapse; be overthrown or defeated): be beaten by, be defeated by, be overthrown by, be smitten by, be vanquished by,
• (die): die
• (be allotted to): be the responsibility of, be up to
• (become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc)): dip, drop
• (become): become, get
• (cause (something) to descend to the ground): cut down (of a tree), fell, knock down, knock over, strike down

Antonyms

• (come down): ascend, go up, rise
• (come to the ground deliberately): get up, pick oneself up, stand up
• (collapse; be overthrown or defeated): beat, defeat, overthrow, smite, vanquish
• (become lower (in quantity, pitch, etc)): rise

Derived terms

Terms derived from the verb to fall

the apple does not fall far from the tree the bigger they are, the harder they fall, the bigger they come, the harder they fall the curtain falls fair fall fallable fall aboard fall aboard of fall about fall about someone's ears 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 asleep fall aslope fall astern fall asunder fall at fall at the crest fall at the first fence, fall at the first hurdle fall away fall back fall back, fall edge fall back on, fall back upon fall behind, fall behindhand fall between the cracks

fall between two stools fall by fall by the wayside fall calm 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 from grace fall heir fall home fall ill fall in fall in age fall in flesh fall in for falling fall in line fall in love 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 one's hands fall in two fall in upon

fall in with fall into fall into line fall into place fall into somebody's heart, fall into someone's heart fall into somebody's mind, fall into someone's mind fall of fall off fall off the turnip truck fall on fall on board fall on deaf ears fall one's crest fall on one's face fall on one's feet fall on shore fall on sleep fall on one's knees fall on one's sword fall on the crest fall open fall out fall out in fall out of fall out upon fall out with fall over fall over oneself fall over one's feet fall pregnant fall prey to fall short fall short of fall short to fall sick fall silent

fallstreaks, fallstreifen fall through fall through the cracks fall to fall to be 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 the ground fall under fall unto fall upon fall victim to fall what can fall, fall what will fall fall with fall within foul fall let fall let the chips fall where they may may fall, may-fall misfall overfall the rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain refall tendency of the rate of profit to fall to-fall under-fall united we stand, divided we fall

Related terms

Terms related to the verb to fall

atfall befall fell (verb, as in "to fell a tree", "to fell an opponent") i-falle i-fallen

of-fall to-fall y-falle yfalle, yfallen

Translations

move to a lower position under the effect of gravity

Afrikaans: val (af) Albanian: bie (sq) Arabic: وقع (ar) (waqa3a), سقط (ar) (saqaTa) Aramaic: Syriac: ܢܦܠ (npal) Armenian: ընկնել (hy) (ënknel) Aromanian: cad Belarusian: падаць (be) (pádac') impf., упасць (be) (upásc') pf. Bosnian: padati (bs) Bulgarian: падам (bg) (pádam) Catalan: caure Chinese: Mandarin: 落 (cmn) (luò), 落下 (cmn) (luòxià), 掉 (cmn) (diào) Croatian: padati (hr) Czech: padat (cs) impf., padnout (cs) pf. Dalmatian: cadar Danish: falde (da) Dutch: vallen (nl) Esperanto: fali (eo) Estonian: kukkuma Faroese: fall (fo) n. Finnish: kaatua, pudota, sataa (rain) French: tomber (fr) Galician: caer (gl) German: fallen (de) Greek: πέφτω (el) (péfto) Guaraní: 'a, kúi Hindi: गिरना (hi) (girnā), पड़ना (hi) (paṛnā) Hungarian: esik (hu) Ido: falar Indonesian: jatuh, gugur, runtuh, tumbang Interlingua: cader Irish: tit (ga) Italian: cadere (it) Japanese: 落ちる (ja) (おちる, ochiru), 崩れる (ja) (くずれる, kuzureru), 落下する (ja) (らっかする, rakka-suru), 転ぶ (ja) (korobu) Korean: 넘어지다 (ko) (neom-eo-ji-da), 쓰러지다 (ko) (sseu-reo-ji-da), 떨어지다 (ko) (ddeol-eo-ji-da), 하락하다 (ko) (harak-hada)

Kurdish: Kurmanji: ketin, keftin Sorani: kewtin Latgalian: krist Latin: cado (la) Latvian: krist (lv), nokrist (lv) Lithuanian: kristi (lt), nukristi (lt) Macedonian: пада (mk) (páda) Norwegian: falle (no) Occitan: càser (oc) Old English: drēosan (ang) Persian: افتادن (fa) (oftâdan), فتادن (fa) (fetâdan) Polish: spadać (pl) impf., spaść (pl) pf. Portuguese: cair (pt) Romanian: cădea (ro) Romansch: crudar (rm) Russian: падать (ru) (pádat') impf., упасть (ru) (upást') pf. Scottish Gaelic: tuit Serbo-Croatian: па̏дати (sh), pȁdati (sh) impf.; у̀пасти (sh), ùpasti (sh) pf. Sicilian: càdiri  (scn) Slovak: padať (sk) impf., padnúť (sk) pf. Slovene: pasti (sl) Sotho: wa (st) Spanish: caer (es), caerse (es) Swedish: falla (sv), trilla (sv) (esp. of something initially upright) Telugu: పడు (paDu) Thai: ตก (th) (tok) Tupinambá: 'ar, kuî Turkish: düşmek (tr) Ukrainian: падати (uk) (pádaty) impf., упасти (uk) (upásty) pf. Urdu: گرنا (ur) (girnā), پڑنا (ur) (paṛnā) Vietnamese: ngã (vi), té (vi), rớt (vi), rơi (vi) West Frisian: falle (fy)

come down or descend

Afrikaans: val (af) Armenian: ընկնել (hy) (ënknel), գալ (hy) (gal) Chinese: Mandarin: 降 (cmn) (jiàng), 下降 (cmn) (xiàjiàng) Danish: falde (da) Finnish: laskeutua (fi) German: fallen (de) Greek: πέφτω (el) Irish: tit (ga)

Japanese: 降る (ja) (furu) Polish: padać (pl) Portuguese: cair (pt) Russian: падать (ru) (pádat') impf., упасть (ru) (upást') pf., снижаться (ru) (snižát'sja) impf., снизиться (ru) (snízit'sja) pf. Sotho: wa (st) Spanish: descender (es) Swedish: falla (sv) Vietnamese: xuống (vi)

prostrate oneself

Armenian: ընկնել (hy) (ënknel) Danish: kaste sig (da) Finnish: heittäytyä (fi) Japanese: ひれふす (ja) (hirefusu) Norwegian: kaste seg (no)

Polish: paść (pl) Russian: падать (ru) (pádat') impf., упасть (ru) (upást') pf., пасть (ru) (past') pf. Swedish: kasta (sv) sig

be brought to earth or be overthrown

Armenian: ընկնել (hy) (ënknel) Danish: falde (da) Finnish: kaatua (fi) German: fallen (de)

Greek: πέφτω (el) Old English: crincgan (ang) Slovene: pasti (sl) Swedish: falla (sv)

collapse; be overthrown or defeated

Armenian: ընկնել (hy) (ënknel) Greek: πέφτω (el)

Italian: cadere (it)

die

Armenian: ընկնել (hy) (ënknel) Danish: falde (da) Faroese: fella (fo) Greek: πέφτω (el) Italian: cadere (it)

Japanese: 斃れる (ja) (taoreru) Latin: cadō (la) Polish: polegnąć (pl) Russian: пасть (ru) (past') pf., погибать (ru) (pogibát') impf., погибнуть (ru) (pogíbnut') pf.

be allotted to

Armenian: ընկնել (hy) (ënknel) Chinese: Mandarin: 成為 (cmn), 成为 (cmn) (chéngwéi) German: fallen (de)

Interlingua: cader (ia) Portuguese: falhar (pt) Swedish: falla (sv)

become or change into

Chinese: Mandarin: 成為 (cmn), 成为 (cmn) (chéngwéi) Danish: blive (da) Dutch: (ziek, verliefd, zwanger) worden, (in slaap) vallen Finnish: tulla joksikin French: devenir (fr), tomber (fr)

German: fallen (de), werden (de) Italian: diventare (it), divenire (it), cadere (it) Persian: شدن (fa) (šodan) Spanish: caer (es) Swedish: bli (sv)

Noun

fall (plural falls)

1. The act of moving in a fluid or vacuum under the effect of gravity to a lower position.
2. A reduction in quantity, pitch, etc.
3. (chiefly North America, obsolete elsewhere, from the falling of leaves during this season) autumn.
4. A loss of greatness or status.

   the fall of Rome

5. (cricket, of a wicket) The action of a batsman being out.
6. (curling) A defect in the ice which causes stones thrown into an area to drift in a given direction
7. (informal, US) Blame or punishment for a failure or misdeed.

   He set up his rival to take the fall.

8. The part of the rope of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting.
9. See falls

Synonyms

• (act of moving under the effect of gravity from a point to a lower point): descent, drop
• (reduction): decrease, dip, drop, lowering, reduction
• (season): autumn
• (loss of greatness or status): downfall
• (blame; punishment): rap

Antonyms

• (act of moving under the effect of gravity from a point to a lower point): ascent, rise
• (reduction): increase, rise
• (loss of greatness or status): ascent, rise

Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun fall

accidental fall angle of fall ash fall, ashfall backfall best-of-three-falls match block and fall break a fall break-fall, breakfall break one's fall byfall catfall center of falls, centre of falls chainfall crossfall darkfall dead fall, dead-fall, deadfall dew-fall, dewfall dog-fall, dogfall downfall dustfall earthfall even-fall, evenfall fall-and-rise phenomenon fall armyworm fall and tackle fall block, fall-block fall-blooming fall-board, fallboard fall-breaker fall-bridge fall cankerworm Fall Classic fall-cloud fall colors fall dandelion fall-door

fall duck fall equinox fall factor fall-fish, fallfish fall foliage fall-forward fall from grace fall front fall-front desk fall guy, fall-guy fall herring fall-iron door fall-leaf fall-less fall line, fall-line fall money The Fall of Baghdad The Fall of Constantinople fall of day the Fall of France the Fall of Man, the fall of man The Fall of Saigon fall of the leaf fall of the perch the Fall of the Roman Empire, the Fall of Rome fall of wicket fall overturn fall-pipe fall-pippin fall rate fall-rise fall-rope fall-run fish falls Falls-to-Falls Corridor fall time

fall-trap fall turnover fall-way fall webworm fall wind, fall-wind fall-window fall-wood fally fall zone fish fall foot-fall, footfall free fall give a fall ice fall, ice-fall infall jaw-fall, jawfall landfall law-fall leaf-fall litterfall mid-fall, midfall misfall mouse-fall near-fall nightfall offal onfall outfall overfall parachute landing fall pinfall pitfall planetfall prat-fall, pratfall, pratt-fall pressure-fall center, pressure-fall centre

pride comes before a fall, pride goes before a fall, pride goeth before a fall proudfall rainfall ride for a fall rises and falls rock-fall, rockfall roof fall root-fall shake a fall shout-and-fall slip and fall smokefall snow-fall, snowfall speck falls stiff board fall sunfall Swedish fall tackle fall take the fall technical fall terminal fall velocity threadfall throughfall toe drain and outfall trad fall trap-fall, trapfall try a fall two-out-of-three-falls match underfall waterfall whale fall windfall withfall wrestle a fall zipper fall

Related terms

Terms related to the noun fall

bergfall brothfall fussefall

Translations

act of moving in gas or vacuum under the effect of gravity from a point to a lower point

Armenian: անկում (hy) (ankum) Catalan: caiguda (ca) f. Chinese: Mandarin: trad. 落下, simpl. 落下 (luòxià) Czech: pád (cs) m. Danish: fald (da) n. Dutch: val (nl) m. Esperanto: falo (eo) Estonian: kukkumine Finnish: putoaminen (fi) French: chute (fr) f. German: Fall (de) m., Absturz (de) m. Interlingua: cadita Italian: caduta (it) f.

Japanese: 落下 (rakka) Kurdish: Kurmanci: ketin f., keftin f. Sorani: که‌وتن, به‌ربوون Norwegian: fall (no) n. Old English: hryre (ang) m. Polish: spadek (pl) m., spadanie (pl) n. Portuguese: queda (pt) f. Romanian: cădere f. Russian: падение (ru) (padénije) n. Slovene: padec (sl) m. Spanish: caída (es) f. Swedish: fall (sv) n. Telugu: పాటు (te) (paaTu)

season — see autumn

loss of greatness or status

Armenian: անկում (hy) (ankum) Chinese: Mandarin: trad. 墮落, simpl. 堕落 (duòluò) Danish: fald (da) n. Dutch: val (nl) m., ondergang (nl) m. Finnish: tuho (fi) French: déclin (fr) m., chute (fr) f.

German: Fall (de) m., Untergang (de) m. Japanese: 没落 (botsuraku) Old English: hryre (ang) m. Polish: upadek (pl) m. Portuguese: perda (pt) f. Russian: падение (ru) (padénie) n. Swedish: fall (sv) n.

cricket: the act of a batsman being out

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Guaraní: 'a, kúi Indonesian: musim gugur Maori: ngahuru Tupinambá: 'ara, kuîa

See also

• falls
• [1]

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: copy · opened · purpose · #544: fall · pass · doing · note

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Albanian

Etymology

From Arabic

Noun

fall

1. prophecy

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Breton

Adjective

fall

1. bad

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Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA: [fadl]

Noun

fall n.

1. fall, drop
2. case (linguistics)

Declension

n10	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	fall	fallið	føll	føllini
Accusative	fall	fallið	føll	føllini
Dative	falli	fallinum	føllum	føllunum
Genitive	fals	falsins	falla	fallanna

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German

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fal/

Verb

fall

1. Imperative singular of fallen.
2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of fallen.

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Icelandic

Wikipedia ^is

Etymology

From Old Norse fall, from falla (“to fall”). The grammatical sense is a calque of Latin casus.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fatl/
• Rhymes: -atl

Noun

fall n. (genitive singular falls, plural föll)

1. fall, drop
2. (grammar) case
3. (computing, programming) function; (subprogram, usually with formal parameters, returing a data value when called)

Declension

declension of fall

n-s	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	fall	fallið	föll	föllin
accusative	fall	fallið	föll	föllin
dative	falli	fallinu	föllum	föllunum
genitive	falls	fallsins	falla	fallanna

Derived terms

• áhrifsfall
• ávarpsfall
• bylgjufall
• deildarfall
• eignarfall
• fjarverufall
• íferðarfall
• íverufall
• nefnifall
• nærverufall
• samvistarfall
• staðarfall
• sviftifall
• tilgangsfall
• tækisfall
• úrferðarfall
• verufall
• þágufall
• þolfall

See also

• falla v

Synonyms

• (function): fallstefja

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Swedish

Noun

fall n.

1. a fall (the act of falling)
2. a fall, loss of greatness or wealth, a bankruptcy
3. a slope, a waterfall, the height of a slope or waterfall

   fallet är omgivet av skog

   the fall is surrounded by forest

   fallet är sjutton meter

   the water falls seventeen metres; the decline is seventeen metres

4. a (legal) case

   i alla fall

   anyhow (in all cases)

   i annat fall

   otherwise (in another case)

   i så fall

   if so (in such a case)

   i vilket fall som helst

   in any case

Declension

Declension of fall

	singular		plural
Neuter	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	fall	fallet	fall	fallen
genitive	falls	fallets	falls	fallens

Related terms

• anfall
• avfall
• falla
• fälla
• fallrep
• fallskärm
• fallucka
• infall
• nedfall
• rättsfall
• utfall
• vattenfall

Verb

fall

1. imperative of falla.