# fall

Pronunciation: say "FAWL" US /fɔl/, UK /fɔːl/, AUS /fo(ː)l/

## Verb

1. To drop or come down freely from a higher position, pulled by gravity.
   - Simple: To move down toward the ground because of gravity.
   - _Objects fall at the same rate in a vacuum, regardless of weight._
   - _She watched the pebble fall into the deep well._
3. To pass into a particular state or condition, often a bad one, as in falling ill, asleep, silent, or into debt.
   - Simple: To change into a new state, such as falling asleep, falling ill, or falling into debt.
   - _The whole village fell ill after the well was contaminated._
   - _Soldiers must not fall asleep while on watch._
4. To be brought down to the ground, as by losing support or balance.
   - Simple: To drop to the ground, often after losing balance or support.
   - _She slipped on the wet kitchen tiles and fell, bruising her hip._
   - _Grandpa uses a cane now because he's afraid he might fall again._
5. To become lower in quantity, level, or pitch.
   - Simple: To go down in amount, level, or sound.
   - _Temperatures fall sharply once the sun sets in the desert._
   - _Stock prices fell for the third straight day._
6. To be defeated or overthrown, or to give way and collapse.
   - Simple: To be beaten, overthrown, or destroyed.
   - _The fortress finally fell when its defenders ran out of supplies._
   - _Regimes that ignore their people often fall in the end._
7. To be included in a particular class, range, area, or authority, followed by words such as into, under, within, or outside.
   - Simple: To belong to a group, range, area, or control, used with words like into, under, within, or outside.
   - _Parking tickets fall under the city's authority, not the state's._
   - _Any purchase that falls outside the approved budget has to go to the board._
9. To come or descend as if by dropping down from above.
   - Simple: To arrive or spread over a place as though dropping from above.
   - _Darkness falls early during the winter months._
   - _As evening comes, long shadows fall over the empty fields._
13. To occur on a particular day, date, or point in time.
   - Simple: To happen on a certain day or date.
   - _Major national elections often fall in early November._
   - _This year, the festival falls on the first weekend of May._
14. To be allotted to someone, or to come to a person through chance, fate, or inheritance.
   - Simple: To become someone's job, duty, or property, because it is given to them, by chance, or through family.
   - _The estate fell to a distant cousin after the will was read._
   - _Difficult decisions often fall to those in charge._
15. To come to the ground deliberately, as by kneeling or prostrating oneself.
   - Simple: To lower oneself to the ground on purpose, as in worship or surrender.
   - _As the procession passes, the pilgrims fall to their knees and bow their heads in prayer._
   - _She fell to her knees and asked for forgiveness._
16. To lose one's life, particularly in combat or through illness.
   - Simple: To die, especially while fighting in a war.
   - _In a long siege, more soldiers often fall to disease than to enemy fire._
   - _Her great-grandfather fell in the final weeks of the war, and his letters are all the family has left._
17. To sink morally, losing one's good character or standing and giving way to vice, error, or sin.
   - Simple: To lose good character and turn to wrongdoing.
   - _In the novel, a young priest falls slowly, first through pride and then through greed, until he barely recognizes himself._
   - _Even devout believers can fall when temptation is constant and no one is watching._
18. Of the face, to take on a look of shame, dejection, or disappointment.
   - Simple: Of a person's face, to show sudden sadness or disappointment.
   - _The children's faces fall when recess is canceled._
   - _Her face fell as she read the rejection letter._
19. Of someone's eyes or gaze, to settle on a person or thing, usually followed by on or upon.
   - Simple: When someone's eyes fall on something, they stop and look at it. Usually used with on or upon.
   - _As she scanned the crowded station, her gaze fell upon a familiar face._
   - _Shoppers tend to stop short when their eyes fall on the price tag._
21. To hang down loosely as a result of gravity.
   - Simple: To hang loosely downward because of gravity.
   - _The heavy drapes fall in straight lines to the carpet._
   - _Loose strands of hair fell across her face as she leaned forward._
22. To happen or come to pass; to occur, especially by chance or coincidence.
   - Simple: To happen or occur, especially by chance.
   - _As it fell out, the two rivals ended up stranded at the same small inn during the storm._
   - _We can't plan the trip until we see how things fall out._
25. Of words or remarks, to be uttered or let slip carelessly.
   - Simple: Of words, to be spoken or let slip carelessly.
   - _He never meant to reveal the surprise, but a careless hint fell from his lips during dinner._
   - _She never let a word of complaint fall from her lips during the long, exhausting climb._
27. To visit or go to a place; to stop by. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To go visit a place or stop by somewhere.
   - _Let's fall by the cookout this weekend._
   - _They fell through to the studio to hear the new track._
29. Of land, a road or a path, to slope downward toward a lower place.
   - Simple: Of land or a road, to go down at a slope toward a lower place.
   - _Behind the farmhouse, the fields fall gently toward the river._
   - _Past the summit, the trail falls steeply toward a small lake._

## Noun

2. The season between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice, when leaves typically drop from the trees; autumn. *(US, Canada)*
   - Simple: The season after summer and before winter, when leaves drop from the trees.
   - _Cool, crisp mornings arrive once fall settles over New England._
   - _They harvest the apples each fall before the first frost._
8. The act of moving downward under the force of gravity.
   - Simple: The act of dropping down toward the ground.
   - _The skydiver's fall lasted nearly a minute before the parachute opened._
   - _A sudden fall on the ice can break a wrist._
10. A decline from a position of greatness or high status.
   - Simple: A loss of power, fame, or high position.
   - _The scandal led to the senator's sudden fall from grace._
   - _Historians still debate the causes of Rome's fall._
11. Something that falls or cascades downward, such as water or snow.
   - Simple: Something that drops or pours down from a height, such as water or snow.
   - _There was a fresh fall of snow overnight, so the kids spent the morning building forts._
   - _We hiked upstream to see the falls, where the river drops into a narrow gorge._
12. A reduction in quantity, level, or pitch.
   - Simple: A drop in amount, level, or sound.
   - _Economists noted a steep fall in consumer spending last quarter._
   - _A sudden fall in pressure warned the crew of the coming storm._
20. The blame or penalty someone bears for a failure or an offense. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: Blame or punishment that someone gets for a mistake or crime.
   - _The junior accountant took the fall for the company's losses._
   - _She refused to take the fall for a decision she never made._
23. In wrestling, an instance of a wrestler being pinned to the mat.
   - Simple: In wrestling, the moment a wrestler is pinned to the mat.
   - _A clean fall ended the bout before the final period._
   - _The crowd roared as the champion scored a fall in seconds._
24. In cricket, the dismissal of a batsman; the event of a batsman being put out.
   - Simple: In cricket, the moment when a batter is out.
   - _The fall of the captain's wicket shifted the whole game's momentum._
   - _The crowd went silent at the sudden fall of their star batsman._
26. The vertical height through which something drops or cascades.
   - Simple: The distance that something drops from top to bottom.
   - _Guides say the cascade has a fall of nearly two hundred feet._
   - _Engineers calculated the fall of the channel to predict the water's speed._
28. A women's hairpiece of long strands on a woven backing, worn to add length or fullness or to hide thinning hair.
   - Simple: A piece of long hair on a backing, worn by women for extra length or fullness, or to hide thin spots.
   - _She clipped in a fall to add length for the evening._
   - _The stylist matched the fall to the client's own shade._
30. In Christian belief, the loss of innocence and descent into sin that came upon humanity when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were banished from Eden.
   - Simple: In Christian belief, the start of human sin, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were sent out of Eden.
   - _Many theologians teach that death and suffering entered the world through the Fall._
   - _The poem retells the Fall, from the serpent's temptation to the couple's exile from the garden._

## Other meanings

- (noun) On a piano, the hinged lid that covers and protects the keyboard.
- (noun) The part of a tackle's rope to which the hauling force is applied when hoisting a load.
- (verb) To let something drop, or cause it to come down.
- (verb) To lower or press something down.
- (verb) To bring down a tree by cutting it.
- (verb) To make something smaller or lower, such as a price.
- (verb) To give birth to or produce offspring.
- (verb) Of certain animals' young, to come into the world.
- (verb) To start doing something eagerly or forcefully, rushing into it.
- (noun) In curling, a flaw in the ice that makes stones sent over that spot drift off to one side.
- (noun) A length of six ells, used as a measure in old Scotland.
- (noun) On a bullwhip, a short, bendy leather strip linking the long lash to the cracker.
- (interjection) A shout raised by whalers on spotting or harpooning a whale.
- (noun) The pursuit of a whale that is being hunted.

## Origin

Proto-Germanic *fallaną gave Old English feallan, meaning "to fall, fail, decay, die, attack," and then the Middle English verb fallen, and Dutch vallen and German fallen are cognates. The noun comes from Old English feall ("a falling") and fealle ("trap, snare"). Using fall for "autumn" is recorded in England by the 1660s, shortened from "fall of the leaf" (1540s) because leaves drop in that season, and it mostly displaced the older name "harvest."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/fall (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).