downfall

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downfall

  • /ˈdaʊnfɔːl/
  • /daʊnˈfɔːl/

Where it comes from

From down- + fall. In this spelling, from 16th century; spelled as two words from 13th century.

noun downfalls · downfal

  1. countable, uncountable A precipitous decline in fortune; death or rapid deterioration, as in status or wealth. Many economic and political reasons led to the downfall of the Roman Empire.

    Similar: fall, doom

  2. countable, uncountable The cause of such a fall; a critical blow or error. Orson Scott Card It is the downfall of evil, that it never sees far enough ahead.
  3. countable, uncountable An act of falling down. a downfall of rain

verb downfalls · downfalling · downfell · downfallen · downfal

  1. intransitive To fall down; deteriorate; decline. [...] wants to make civilization his subject, he will have a hard time proceeding with the sentence unless collapse is in his active vocabulary, for he cannot say "our civilization will downfall" or "fall down."

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: fall, precipitation, breakdown, downturn, decrease, destruction, decline, ruination, wreck, ruin, falling, lapsing, lapse, loss, break-up, collapse

Translations

Every language

noun precipitous decline in fortune; death or rapid deterioration, as in status or wealth

Españolocaso, decaimiento, decadencia, caída
日本語衰亡 suibō, 滅亡 metsubō, 最期 saigo
中文倒臺 /倒台 dǎotái
हिन्दीपतन patan, अधोगति adhogti
Portuguêsruína, queda
Françaischute
DeutschNiedergang, Untergang, Verfall
Italianocaduta, tonfo, rovinio, rovescio
Ελληνικάπτώση ptósi
Русскийпаде́ние padénije, круше́ние krušénije, обва́л obvál, крах krax

noun cause of such a fall; a critical blow or error

Españolperdición
日本語致命傷 chimeishō
DeutschRuin
Italianorovina
Ελληνικάήττα ítta

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Cite this
MLA

"downfall." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/downfall. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

downfall. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/downfall

Chicago

"downfall." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/downfall.

BibTeX
@misc{downfall_2026,
  title = {downfall},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/downfall},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}