fall — OAT · Shobdo

fall

verb

1 bombers screamed above and bombs began to fall:

drop, drop down, plummet, descend, come down, go down, plunge, sink, dive, nosedive, tumble, pitch;

cascade;

technical gravitate.

▷antonyms rise.

2 he lost his balance and fell:

topple over, tumble over, keel over, fall down, fall over, go head over heels, go end over end, fall headlong, go headlong, collapse, fall in a heap, take a spill, pitch forward;

trip, trip over, stumble, stagger, slip, slide;

Scottish, & Northern Irish cowp;

informal come a cropper, go for six;

dated measure one's length.

▷antonyms get up.

3 little by little, the river began to fall:

subside, recede, ebb, fall back, flow back, fall away, go down, get lower, sink;

abate, settle;

rare retrocede.

▷antonyms rise; flood.

4 inflation is expected to fall:

decrease, decline, diminish, fall off, drop off, go down, grow less, lessen, dwindle;

plummet, plunge, slump, sink, fall off a cliff;

depreciate, decrease in value, lose value, decline in price, cheapen, devalue;

informal hit the floor, go through the floor, nosedive, take a nosedive, take a header, go into a tailspin, crash.

▷antonyms rise, increase.

5 the Mogul empire fell several centuries later:

decline, deteriorate, degenerate, go downhill, go to rack and ruin;

die, decay, atrophy, wither, fade, fail;

informal go to the dogs, go to pot, hit the skids, go down the toilet, go down the tubes;

Australian, New Zealand, informal go to the pack;

rare retrograde.

▷antonyms flourish.

6 a monument to those who fell in the Civil War:

die, be killed, be slain, be a casualty, be a fatality, be lost, lose one's life, perish, drop dead, meet one's end, meet one's death;

informal bite the dust, croak, buy it;

British, informal snuff it, peg out;

North American, informal bite the big one;

archaic decease.

7 the town fell to the barbarians:

surrender, yield, submit, give in, give up, give way, capitulate, succumb;

be overthrown by, be taken by, be defeated by, be conquered by, be overcome by, be overwhelmed by, lose one's position to, pass into the hands of, fall victim to.

▷antonyms resist.

8 Easter falls on April 23rd:

occur, take place, happen, come about, come to pass.

9 he waited for night to fall:

come, arrive, appear, occur, arise, materialize.

10 my grandmother fell ill:

become, come/get to be, grow, get, turn.

11 more of the domestic tasks may fall to him:

be the responsibility of, be the duty of, be borne by, be one's job, be one's task;

come someone's way.

□ fall about laughingBritish, informal

I didn't know whether to get angry or fall about laughing:

guffaw, chuckle, chortle, cackle, howl, roar, ha-ha, roar/hoot with laughter, shake with laughter, be convulsed with laughter, dissolve into laughter, split one's sides, be doubled up;

informal be in stitches, die laughing, be rolling in the aisles, bust a gut, break up, be creased up, crease up, crack up;

British, informal fall about, laugh like a drain.

□ fall apart

1 my boots fell apart:

fall to pieces, come to pieces, fall to bits, come to bits, come apart (at the seams);

disintegrate, fragment, break up, break apart, crumble, dissolve, degenerate, decay, molder, perish;

go downhill, go to rack and ruin;

informal bust.

▷antonyms remain intact.

2 I was gentle with him when he fell apart:

break down, have a breakdown, go to pieces, fall to pieces, lose control, lose one's self-control, crumble;

informal crack up, freak, freak out.

□ fall asleep

Claire tried not to fall asleep:

doze off, drop off, go to sleep;

informal nod off, go off, drift off, crash, crash out, flake out, conk out, go out like a light;

North American, informal sack out, zone out.

▷antonyms stay awake; wake up.

□ fall away

the ground fell away abruptly:

slope down, slope, slant down, go down, incline downward, tilt downward, drop away, drop, descend, dip, sink, plunge;

rare decline.

▷antonyms rise.

□ fall back

the force of her blow caused him to fall back:

retreat, withdraw, back off, draw back, pull back, pull away, move away, retire, pull out;

turn tail, flee, take flight, beat a (hasty) retreat.

▷antonyms advance.

□ fall back on

you can always fall back on the support of relatives:

resort to, turn to, look to, call on, call into play, call into action, call into service, press into service, have recourse to, make use of, use, employ;

rely on, depend on, lean on.

□ fall behind

1 she walked so fast that the others soon fell behind:

lag, lag behind, trail, trail behind, be left behind, fall back, drop back, not keep up, lose one's place, not keep pace, bring up the rear;

straggle, dally, dawdle, hang back, drag one's feet, take one's time.

▷antonyms overtake.

2 customers fell behind on their payments:

get into debt, get into arrears, default, be in the red, be late, be overdue;

not keep up with.

▷antonyms be up to date.

□ fall down

1 I spin round and round till I fall down:

fall over, fall, topple over, tumble down, keel over, collapse, fall in a heap, trip, take a spill, stumble, stagger;

informal come a cropper, go for six;

dated measure one's length.

2 the federation fell down in some areas:

fail, be unsuccessful, not succeed, lack success, not make the grade, not come up to expectations, fall short, fall flat, disappoint;

miss the mark, run aground, go astray, suffer defeat;

informal come a cropper, flop.

▷antonyms come through, succeed.

□ fall for

1 she fell for a younger man:

fall in love with, become infatuated with, lose one's heart to, take a liking to, take a fancy to, be smitten by, be attracted to, desire;

informal fancy, be turned on by, have the hots for.

2 Jenkins is far too astute to fall for that trick:

be deceived by, be duped by, be fooled by, be taken in by, accept, believe, trust, be convinced by, have confidence in;

informal go for, buy, swallow, swallow something hook, line, and sinker, take something as gospel.

□ fall in

1 the roof of our house fell in:

collapse, cave in, come down around one's ears, crash in, fall down;

subside, sag, slump, sink inwards;

give way, crumple, crumble, disintegrate, fall to pieces.

▷antonyms hold up.

2 he ordered his troops to fall in:

get in formation, get in line, line up, take one's position, get in order, get into rows/columns;

Military dress;

British, informal form a crocodile.

▷antonyms fall out.

□ fall into place

1 it was at this point that everything began to fall into place:

become clear, come home to one, make sense, dawn, register, get through, sink in;

informal click.

2 almost miraculously, the pieces fell into place:

take shape, come together, take form, become definite.

□ fall in with

1 he fell in with a bad crowd:

get involved with, take up with, join up with, go around with, string along with, become friendly with, make friends with, strike up a friendship with, start seeing, make the acquaintance of;

informal hang out with, hang around with, knock around with.

2 he refused to fall in with their demands:

comply with, go along with, support, back, give one's backing to, cooperate with, act in accordance with, obey, yield to, submit to, bow to, defer to, adhere to, conform to;

agree to, agree with, accept, assent to, concur with.

▷antonyms disobey.

□ fall off

the amount of container shipping has fallen off:

decrease, decline, diminish, drop off, go down, go downhill, grow less, lessen, dwindle, plummet, plunge, fall off a cliff, slump, sink;

informal hit the floor, go through the floor, nosedive, take a nosedive, take a header, go into a tailspin, crash.

▷antonyms increase.

□ fall on

1 the army fell on the besiegers:

attack, assail, assault, make an assault on, fly at, let fly at, launch oneself at, pounce upon, set upon, ambush, surprise, accost, rush, storm, charge;

informal jump, lay into, lace into, tear into, sail into, pitch into, get stuck into, let someone have it, beat someone up;

British, informal set about, have a go at;

North American, informal light into.

2 the cost should not fall on the students:

be borne by, be carried by, be the responsibility of, be paid by.

□ fall out

1 let's not fall out over silly things:

quarrel, argue, row, fight, have a row, have a fight, squabble, bicker, have words, disagree, differ, have a difference of opinion, have a disagreement, be at odds, clash, wrangle, get into conflict, get into a dispute, cross swords, lock horns, be at loggerheads, be at each other's throats;

informal scrap, argufy, go at it hammer and tongs, argy-bargy;

archaic altercate, chop logic;

Scottish, archaic threap.

▷antonyms make up.

2 the soldier fell out without permission:

move out of formation, move out of line, get out of line, get out of formation;

stand at ease.

▷antonyms fall in.

3 it fell out that we lost:

happen, occur, come about, take place, turn out, chance, arise, befall, result.

□ fall short

the results fall short of what was expected:

fail to meet, fail to reach, fail to live up to;

be deficient, be inadequate, be insufficient, be wanting, be lacking, disappoint, fail, fail to live up to one's expectations;

informal not come up to scratch.

▷antonyms measure up (to).

□ fall through

unfortunately the deal fell through:

fail, be unsuccessful, come to nothing, come to naught, fail to happen, miscarry, abort, go awry, be frustrated, collapse, founder, come to grief;

come to a halt, grind to a halt, end, terminate;

informal fizzle out, flop, fold, come a cropper, blow up in someone's face, go down like a lead balloon.

▷antonyms succeed.

noun

1 he had an accidental fall:

tumble, trip, spill, topple, stumble, slip;

collapse;

informal nosedive, header, cropper.

2 September's reports showed a fall in sales:

decline, falloff, drop, dropping off, decrease, cut, lessening, lowering, dip, diminishing, dwindling, reduction, plummet, plunge, slump, deterioration, downswing;

informal nosedive, crash, letup.

▷antonyms increase.

3 the fall of the Roman Empire:

downfall, ruin, ruination, collapse, failure, decline, deterioration, degeneration, destruction, overthrow, demise.

▷antonyms rise.

4 the fall of the city to the enemy:

surrender, surrendering, capitulation, yielding, giving in, submission, acquiescence, succumbing, resignation, laying down of arms;

defeat.

5 there is a fall of some fifty feet down to the ocean:

descent, declivity, slope, downward slope, downward slant, incline;

North American downgrade.

▷antonyms ascent.

6 Christian Churchthe Fall of Man:

sin, sinning, wrongdoing, transgression, error, yielding to temptation, offense, lapse, fall from grace, backsliding;

original sin.

7 (falls) they went on rafting trips below the falls:

waterfall, cascade, cataract, chute, torrent;

rapids, white water;

Northern English force;

Scottish, archaic linn.