face down
Britishverb
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With the upper surface put down, as in Please put these papers face down . This usage appears to come from cardplaying. [First half of 1600s] The antonym, “with the upper surface uppermost,” is face up .
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Overcome, intimidate, or browbeat someone in a bold confrontation. This verbal expression dates from the 16th century. Shakespeare used it in The Comedy of Errors (3:1): “Here's a villain that would face me down.”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One video starts with the character face down on a school desk, his legs not even close to touching the ground.
From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026
A disabled 4-year-old boy was airlifted to a hospital for emergency treatment after he was found face down and unresponsive in an elementary school pool.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2026
A mock drowning in the pool, floating face down in the water as his mother does a butterfly stroke back and forth right next to him.
From Salon • Feb. 17, 2026
Afterwards, Gandhi presided over waves of civil disobedience protests, encouraging supporters of the Indian National Congress to manufacture contraband salt, boycott foreign goods, and face down phalanxes of lathi-wielding policemen.
From BBC • Nov. 29, 2025
She takes up residence inside him, a living doppelgiinger to face down the dead Viennese girl who haunts him every night.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
