countdown

See also: Countdown, count-down, and count down

English

Alternative forms

• count down
• count-down

Etymology

From count +‎ down.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊntˌdaʊn/

Noun

countdown (plural countdowns)

1. A count backward in fixed units to the time of some event, especially the launch of a space vehicle.
2. The acts of preparation carried out during this period.
3. A radio or television program counting down the top songs of a given week, usually in reverse order ending with the No. 1.

Translations

a count backward to the time of some event

• Arabic: عَدٌّ تَنَازُلِيٌّ m (ʕaddun tanāzuliyyun)
• Bulgarian: отброяване n (otbrojavane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 倒數／倒数 (zh), 倒数 (zh) (dàoshǔ), 倒計時／倒计时 (zh) (dàojìshí), 倒计时 (zh) (dàojìshí)

• Czech: odpočítávání n
• Dutch: aftelling (nl) f, aftellen (nl) n
• Finnish: lähtölaskenta (fi)
• French: compte à rebours (fr) m, décompte (fr) m
• Georgian: უკუმიმართულებით ათვლა (uḳumimartulebit atvla), უკუათვლა (uḳuatvla)
• German: Countdown (de) m
• Greek: αντίστροφη μέτρηση (el) f (antístrofi métrisi)
• Hebrew: ספירה לאחור f (sfira le'akhor)
• Hungarian: visszaszámolás
• Italian: conto alla rovescia (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: カウントダウン (kauntodaun)
• Korean: 카운트다운 (ko) (kaunteudaun)
• Macedonian: одбројување n (odbrojuvanje)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nedtelling m or f

  Nynorsk: nedteljing f

• Polish: odliczanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: contagem regressiva
• Romanian: denumărare f, numărare regresivă, numărare inversă f
• Russian: отсчёт (ru) m (otsčót), обра́тный счёт (obrátnyj sčot) / обра́тный отсчёт m (obrátnyj otsčót), счёт в обра́тном направле́нии m (sčot v obrátnom napravlénii)
• Slovene: odštevanje n
• Spanish: cuenta atrás f (Spain), cuenta regresiva f (Latin America)
• Swedish: nedräkning (sv) c

the acts of preparation carried out during this period

• Dutch: aftelling (nl) f
• German: Zeitkontrolle f
• Greek: αντίστροφη μέτρηση (el) f (antístrofi métrisi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: contagem regressiva, retrocontagem f
• Russian: обра́тный отсчёт m (obrátnyj otsčót)

a radio or television program counting down the top songs of a given week

• French: hit-parade (fr) m, top 50 m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Countdown (de) m

Verb

countdown (third-person singular simple present countdowns, present participle countdowning, simple past and past participle countdowned)

1. (nonstandard) To count down.
   • 1994, Yifeng Yuan, Polarized fluorescence photobleaching for measuring fast rotational motion of cell surface receptors:

     This was accomplished in the old system by polling a software variable representing the number of prebleach bin and issuing a software command to trigger the AOM once the variable has countdowned to zero.

   • 2000, Stephen Mark Cox, Cluck:

     Time measures itself out in a series of diminishing peristaltic ticks, countdowning slowly towards the miracle of Ignition.

   • 2003, Edward Stone Cohen, Firewater, →ISBN, page 129:

     Whole families stood gawking at the massive statue, countdowning the five remaining minutes to the big one.

Translations

count down — see count down