faceplant

See also: face-plant

English

WOTD – 3 September 2010

Alternative forms

• face-plant

Etymology

From face +‎ plant (“place, set firmly”). Originally skateboarding and snowboarding slang, a humorous variant of handplant, which is an intentional technique in these sports.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪsˌplɑːnt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪsˌplænt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

faceplant (plural faceplants)

1. (informal) The act of landing face first, as a result of an accident or error.

   The skater slipped off his board and did a painful faceplant.

   • 2005, Michael Thomas Ford, Looking For It, Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN:

     Only by catching himself with his poles had he avoided doing a face plant in the snow.

   • 2009, Sarah Cross, Dull Boy, Penguin, →ISBN:

     My cheek feels raw where Cherchette kissed me, like I did a face plant onto concrete.

   • 2024 February 17, Sharon Adarlo, “AI Hiring Tools are Ignoring Qualified Candidates, Expert Says”[1], The_Byte, futurism.com

     These kind of recruiting resources faceplants are likely to multiply as more businesses adopt these tools for the hiring process.

2. (video games) Death or defeat in a multiplayer online game.
3. (wrestling) A wrestling move in which an attacking wrestler forces an opponent down to the mat face-first without a headlock or facelock.

   Synonym: facebuster

Related terms

• assplant
• handplant

Translations

act of landing face first

• Finnish: mahalasku
• Hungarian: pofára esés
• Russian: паде́ние (ru) n (padénije) лицом (ru) (licom) вниз (ru) (vniz)

video games: death or defeat in multiplayer games

Verb

faceplant (third-person singular simple present faceplants, present participle faceplanting, simple past and past participle faceplanted)

1. (informal, transitive, intransitive) To land face first.

   Synonyms: eat it, (vulgar) eat shit

   • 2013, Micah Persell, Of Consuming Fire: Middle of the Garden, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

     Moments before she face-planted on the tile, his hands shot out and grabbed her, pulling her safely to his chest. She face-planted in the middle of his pecs instead.

2. (informal, intransitive) To completely fumble or fail in an activity, usually in a spectacular fashion.

Translations

to land face first

• Finnish: kaatua naamalleen, tehdä mahalasku
• French: se planter la gueule, se péter la gueule (colloquial)
• Malayalam: മൂക്കുംകുത്തി വീഴുക (mūkkuṅkutti vīḻuka) (figurative)
• Russian: па́дать (ru) (pádatʹ) лицом (ru) (licom) вниз (ru) (vniz), (informal, somewhat) впечататься лицом (vpečatatʹsja licom)

See also

• extreme sport
• facepalm