fall on
Britishverb
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Also: fall upon. to attack or snatch (an army, booty, etc)
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to fail, esp in a ridiculous or humiliating manner
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to emerge unexpectedly well from a difficult situation
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Also, fall upon.
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Attack suddenly and viciously, as in They fell on the guards and overpowered them . [c. 1400]
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Meet with, encounter, as in They fell on hard times . [Late 1500s]
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Find by chance, discover, as in We fell upon the idea last Saturday night . [Mid-1600s]
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Be the responsibility or duty of someone, as in It fell on Clara to support the entire family . [Mid-1800s] Also see the subsequent idioms beginning with fall on .
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.
“It’s really a dramatic story based on where you fall on the income distribution,” said Cornell economics professor Ori Heffetz.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026
Heavy rains continued to fall on the archipelago in the early hours of Saturday morning.
From BBC • Mar. 21, 2026
"Sometimes rocket fragments fall on houses," Ghanayem said.
From Barron's • Mar. 14, 2026
And her confusion and fear is also reflected in the world’s stock markets: U.S. markets are up Wednesday after a dramatic fall on Tuesday.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 4, 2026
She shook the globe and watched the snow fall on the miniature tower.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
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.
