Word Meanings - FALL - Book Publishers vocabulary database

G. fallen, Icel. Falla, Sw. falla, Dan. falde, Lith. pulti, L. fallere to deceive, Gr. sfa`llein to cause to fall, Skr. sphal, 1. To Descend, either suddenly or gradually; particularly, to descend by the force of gravity; to drop; to sink; as,

Additional info about word: FALL

G. fallen, Icel. Falla, Sw. falla, Dan. falde, Lith. pulti, L. fallere to deceive, Gr. sfa`llein to cause to fall, Skr. sphal, 1. To Descend, either suddenly or gradually; particularly, to descend by the force of gravity; to drop; to sink; as, the apple falls; the tide falls; the mercury falls in the barometer. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Luke x. 18. 2. To cease to be erect; to take suddenly a recumbent posture; to become prostrate; to drop; as, a child totters and falls; a tree falls; a worshiper falls on his knees. I fell at his feet to worship him. Rev. xix. 10. 3. To find a final outlet; to discharge its waters; to empty; -- with into; as, the river Rhone falls into the Mediterranean. 4. To become prostrate and dead; to die; especially, to die by violence, as in battle. A thousand shall fall at thy side. Ps. xci. 7. He rushed into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell. Byron. 5. To cease to be active or strong; to die away; to lose strength; to subside; to become less intense; as, the wind falls. 6. To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; -- said of the young of certain animals. Shak. 7. To decline in power, glory, wealth, or importance; to become insignificant; to lose rank or position; to decline in weight, value, price etc.; to become less; as, the falls; stocks fell two points. I am a poor falle man, unworthy now To be thy lord and master. Shak. The greatness of these Irish lords suddenly fell and vanished. Sir J. Davies. 8. To be overthrown or captured; to be destroyed. Heaven and earth will witness, If Rome must fall, that we are innocent. Addison. 9. To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin; to depart from the faith; to apostatize; to sin. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Heb. iv. 11. 10. To become insnared or embarrassed; to be entrapped; to be worse off than before; asm to fall into error; to fall into difficulties. 11. To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; -- said of the countenance. Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. Gen. iv. 5. I have observed of late thy looks are fallen. Addison. 12. To sink; to languish; to become feeble or faint; as, our spirits rise and fall with our fortunes. 13. To pass somewha suddenly, and passively, into a new state of body or mind; to become; as, to fall asleep; to fall into a passion; to fall in love; to fall into temptation. 14. To happen; to to come to pass; to light; to befall; to issue; to terminate. The Romans fell on this model by chance. Swift. Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall. Ruth. iii. 18. They do not make laws, they fall into customs. H. Spencer. 15. To come; to occur; to arrive. The vernal equinox, which at the Nicene Council fell on the 21st of March, falls now about ten days sooner. Holder. 16. To begin with haste, ardor, or vehemence; to rush or hurry; as, they fell to blows. They now no longer doubted, but fell to work heart and soul. Jowett 17. To pass or be transferred by chance, lot, distribution, inheritance, or otherwise; as, the estate fell to his brother; the kingdom fell into the hands of his rivals. 18. To belong or appertain. If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you'll forget them all. Pope. 19. To be dropped or uttered carelessly; as, an unguarded expression fell from his lips; not a murmur fell from him. To fall abroad of , to strike against; -- applied to one vessel coming into collision with another. -- To fall among, to come among accidentally or unexpectedly. -- To fall astern , to move or be driven backward; to be left behind; as, a ship falls astern by the force of a current, or when outsailed by another. -- To fall away. To lose flesh; to become lean or emaciated; to pine. To renounce or desert allegiance; to revolt or rebel. To renounce or desert the faith; to apostatize. "These . . . for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away." Luke viii. 13. To perish; to vanish; to be lost. "How . . . can the soul . . . fall away into nothing" Addison. To decline gradually; to fade; to languish, or become faint. "One color falls away by just degrees, and another rises insensibly." Addison. -- To fall back. To recede or retreat; to give way. To fail of performing a promise or purpose; not to fulfill. -- To fall back upon. To retreat for safety to (a stronger position in the rear, as to a fort or a supporting body of troops). To have recourse to (a reserved fund, or some available expedient or support). -- To fall calm, to cease to blow; to become calm. -- To fall down. To prostrate one's self in worship. "All kings shall fall down before him." Ps. lxxii. 11. To sink; to come to the ground. "Down fell the beauteous youth." Dryden. To bend or bow, as a suppliant. To sail or drift toward the mouth of a river or other outlet. -- To fall flat, to produce no response or result; to fail of the intended effect; as, his speech fell flat. -- To fall foul of. To have a collision with; to become entangled with To attack; to make an assault upon. -- To fall from, to recede or depart from; not to adhere to; as, to fall from an agreement or engagement; to fall from allegiance or duty. -- To fall from grace , to sin; to withdraw from the faith. -- To fall home , to curve inward; -- said of the timbers or upper parts of a ship's side which are much within a perpendicular. -- To fall in. To sink inwards; as, the roof fell in. To take one's proper or assigned place in line; as, to fall in on the right. To come to an end; to terminate; to lapse; as, on the death of Mr. B., the annuuity, which he had so long received, fell in. To become operative. "The reversion, to which he had been nominated twenty years before, fell in." Macaulay. -- To fall into one's hands, to pass, often suddenly or unexpectedly, into one's ownership or control; as, to spike cannon when they are likely to fall into the hands of the enemy. -- To fall in with. To meet with accidentally; as, to fall in with a friend. To meet, as a ship; also, to discover or come near, as land. To concur with; to agree with; as, the measure falls in with popular opinion. To comply; to yield to. "You will find it difficult to persuade learned men to fall in with your projects." Addison. -- To fall off. To drop; as, fruits fall off when ripe. To withdraw; to separate; to become detached; as, friends fall off in adversity. "Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide." Shak. To perish; to die away; as, words fall off by disuse. To apostatize; to forsake; to withdraw from the faith, or from allegiance or duty. Those captive tribes . . . fell off From God to worship calves. Milton. To forsake; to abandon; as, his customers fell off. To depreciate; to change for the worse; to deteriorate; to become less valuable, abundant, or interesting; as, a falling off in the wheat crop; the magazine or the review falls off. "O Hamlet, what a falling off was there!" Shak. To deviate or trend to the leeward of the point to which the head of the ship was before directed; to fall to leeward. -- To fall on. To meet with; to light upon; as, we have fallen on evil days. To begin suddenly and eagerly. "Fall on, and try the appetite to eat." Dryden. To begin an attack; to assault; to assail. "Fall on, fall on, and hear him not." Dryden. To drop on; to descend on. -- To fall out. To quarrel; to begin to contend. A soul exasperated in ills falls out With everything, its friend, itself. Addison. To happen; to befall; to chance. "There fell out a bloody quarrel betwixt the frogs and the mice." L'Estrange. To leave the ranks, as a soldier. -- To fall over. To revolt; to desert from one side to another. To fall beyond. Shak. -- To fall short, to be deficient; as, the corn falls short; they all fall short in duty. -- To fall through, to come to nothing; to fail; as, the engageent has fallen through. -- To fall to, to begin. "Fall to, with eager joy, on homely food." Dryden. -- To fall under. To come under, or within the limits of; to be subjected to; as, they fell under the jurisdiction of the emperor. To come under; to become the subject of; as, this point did not fall under the cognizance or deliberations of the court; these things do not fall under human sight or observation. To come within; to be ranged or reckoned with; to be subordinate to in the way of classification; as, these substances fall under a different class or order. -- To fall upon. To attack. To attempt; to have recourse to. "I do not intend to fall upon nice disquisitions." Holder. To rush against. Note: Fall primarily denotes descending motion, either in a perpendicular or inclined direction, and, in most of its applications, implies, literally or figuratively, velocity, haste, suddenness, or violence. Its use is so various, and so mush diversified by modifying words, that it is not easy to enumerate its senses in all its applications.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of FALL)

• Befall
• Happen
• occur
• betide
• fall
• supervene
• bechance
• Death
• Departure
• demise
• decease
• dissolution
• mortality
• failure
• termination
• cessation
• expiration
• release
• exit
• Declension
• Decay
• decadence
• degeneration
• deterioration
• Declivity
• Descent
• slope
• incline
• devexity
• Devolve upon
• Impose
• place
• charge
• commission
• depute
• accrue
• attach
• befall

Possible antonyms: (opposite words of FALL)

• Rise
• grow
• increase
• flourish
• luxuriate
• vegetate
• expand
• enlarge
• Trend
• diverge
• ascend
• deter
• rise
• indispose
• disincline
• Bind
• constrain
• confine
• shackle
• fetter
• yoke

Related words: (words related to FALL)

• ASCENDANCY; ASCENDANCE
  See ASCENDENCY
• DEATHLIKE
  1. Resembling death. A deathlike slumber, and a dead repose. Pope. 2. Deadly. "Deathlike dragons." Shak.
• DECAY
  To pass gradually from a sound, prosperous, or perfect state, to one of imperfection, adversity, or dissolution; to waste away; to decline; to fail; to become weak, corrupt, or disintegrated; to rot; to perish; as, a tree decays; fortunes decay;
• CONFINER
  One who, or that which, limits or restrains.
• DEATHLY
  Deadly; fatal; mortal; destructive.
• RELEASE
  To lease again; to grant a new lease of; to let back.
• CHARGEANT
  Burdensome; troublesome. Chaucer.
• PLACEMENT
  1. The act of placing, or the state of being placed. 2. Position; place.
• PLACENTARY
  Having reference to the placenta; as, the placentary system of classification.
• PLACE-KICK
  To make a place kick; to make by a place kick. -- Place"-kick`er, n.
• DEATHLINESS
  The quality of being deathly; deadliness. Southey.
• ENLARGEMENT
  1. The act of increasing in size or bulk, real or apparent; the state of being increased; augmentation; further extension; expansion. 2. Expansion or extension, as of the powers of the mind; ennoblement, as of the feelings and character; as, an
• DEPARTURE
  The desertion by a party to any pleading of the ground taken by him in his last antecedent pleading, and the adoption of another. Bouvier. (more info) 1. Division; separation; putting away. No other remedy . . . but absolute departure. Milton.
• BEFALL
  To happen to. I beseech your grace that I may know The worst that may befall me. Shak.
• ASCENDENCY
  Governing or controlling influence; domination; power. An undisputed ascendency. Macaulay. Custom has an ascendency over the understanding. Watts. Syn. -- Control; authority; influence; sway; dominion; prevalence; domination.
• EXPIRATION
  The act or process of breathing out, or forcing air from the lungs through the nose or mouth; as, respiration consists of inspiration and expiration; -- opposed to Ant: inspiration. Emission of volatile matter; exhalation. The true cause of cold
• CHARGEABLE
  1. That may be charged, laid, imposed, or imputes; as, a duty chargeable on iron; a fault chargeable on a man. 2. Subject to be charge or accused; liable or responsible; as, revenues chargeable with a claim; a man chargeable with murder. 3. Serving
• DEVOLVEMENT
  The act or process of devolving;; devolution.
• CONSTRAINTIVE
  Constraining; compulsory. "Any constraintive vow." R. Carew.
• ACCRUE
  Etym: 1. To increase; to augment. And though power failed, her courage did accrue. Spenser. 2. To come to by way of increase; to arise or spring as a growth or result; to be added as increase, profit, or damage, especially as the produce of money
• MISHAPPEN
  To happen ill or unluckily. Spenser.
• REINCREASE
  To increase again.
• BEHAPPEN
  To happen to.
• MISCHARGE
  To charge erroneously, as in account. -- n.
• LAPIDESCENT
  Undergoing the process of becoming stone; having the capacity of being converted into stone; having the quality of petrifying bodies.
• ENCHARGE
  To charge ; to impose upon. His countenance would express the spirit and the passion of the part he was encharged with. Jeffrey.
• REPLACEMENT
  The removal of an edge or an angle by one or more planes. (more info) 1. The act of replacing.
• INDETERMINABLE
  Not determinable; impossible to be determined; not to be definitely known, ascertained, defined, or limited. -- In`de*ter"mi*na*bly, adv.