Downfall

Definition: Downfall

Downfall

Noun

1. Failure that results in a loss of position or reputation.

2. The falling to earth of rain or snow or hail or sleet or mist.

3. A sudden decline in strength or number or importance; "the fall of the House of Hapsburg".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "downfall" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Literature

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Downfall

Adversity

Losing game; falling; Verb: fall, downfall; ruination, ruinousness; undoing; extremity; ruin; (destruction).

Descent

Noun: descent, descension, declension, declination; fall; falling; Verb:: slump; drop, plunge, plummet, cadence; subsidence, collapse, lapse; downfall, tumble, slip, tilt, trip, lurch; cropper, culbute; titubation, stumble; fate of Icarus.

Destruction

Fall, downfall, devastation, ruin, perdition, crash;

Failure

Fall, downfall, ruin, perdition; wreck; (destruction); deathblow; bankruptcy; (nonpayment).

Crosswords: Downfall

My client feels that it was a combination of liquor and jazz that led to the downfall. (Chicago; writing credit: Maurine Dallas Watkins; Bob Fosse)

When your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall. (references; author: unknown)

Adolf Hitler - My Part in His Downfall (1972)

Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970)

Downfall (1964)

Dad's Downfall (1917)

The Downfall of Potts (1915)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (reference)

• Cortes and the Downfall of the Aztec Empire (reference)

• Creek Indian History: A Historical Narrative of the Genealogy, Traditions and Downfall of the Ispocoga or Creek Indian Tribe of Indians (reference)

• Downfall (Dragonlance: The Dhamon Saga, Book 1) (reference)

• Downfall of Prempeh a Diary of the Native Levy in Ashanti 1895-96 (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• Biography:Burt Reynolds - Downfall (reference)

• Royal Family Collection - Fergie - Downfall of a Duchess (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Downfall (reference)

• World Downfall (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The downfall of Mother Bank. Credit: Library of Congress.

The people putting responsibility to the test or the downfall of the kitchen cabinet and collar presses. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

He only who denounces the success at one time has a right to proclaim the justice of the downfall.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Economic History

Ethiopia

With the downfall of the Mengistu regime, U.S.-Ethiopian relations improved dramatically. (references)

Slovakia

On November 17, 1989, a series of public protests known as the "Velvet Revolution" began and led to the downfall of communist rule in Czechoslovakia. (references)

Indonesia

Since the downfall of President Suharto in 1998, the country has had three Presidents and is struggling to create effective, democratic institutions. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Albanian

stuhi bore, shkatërrim (breakdown, breakup, collapse, decay, decimation, demolition, depredation, desolation, destruction, devastation, dissolution, havoc, mess, ravage, ruin, wrack, wreck, wrecking), rrebesh shiu (shower), rrënim (desolation, destruction, devastation, dilapidation, dissolution, havoc, rack, ravage, ruin), rënie (abatement, bathos, collapse, come down, decadence, decadency, decay, decline, decrepitude, degeneracy, degradation, degression, depression, descent, dilapidation, drop, drop off, fall, falling, flop, incidence, lapse, letdown, precipitation, prolapse, recession, regress, spill, taper, tumble, wane), gremisje (fall, tumble). (various references)

Arabic 

‏مطر غزير (downpour, heavy rain, pour), ‏سقوط (chute, descent, drop, falling, fallout, incidence, jolt, overthrow, overturn, plunge, spilling, tumble), ‏طوفان (cataclysm, cataract, deluge, flood). (various references)

Bulgarian 

обилен валеж, проваляне (breakdown, crash, damnation, defeat, founder), провал (bankruptcy, collapse, failure, mucker, ruin, sucks, unsuccess), причина за проваляне. (various references)

Chinese 

�'落 , �'台. (various references)

Czech

pád (case, collapse, crash, drop, fall, plump, plunge, ruin, spill, tumble). (various references)

Farsi 

سقوط (Crash, Elapse, Fall), زوال (Chute, Consumption, Decadence, Decay, Decline, Fall, Lapse), افت (Blight, Deuce, Pest, Pestilence, Plague, Slump), انحطاط (Chute, Decadence, Decline, Degeneration, Downhill, Retrogradation, Slough), ریزش (Catarrh, Diffusion, Gush, Income, Influx, Infusion, Outflow, Slide, Slump, Spray), بارش (Rain, Rainfall). (various references)

Finnish

häviö (defeat, destruction, fall, loss, ruin). (various references)

French

déluge (downpour), chute de pluie, chute. (various references)

German

untergang (breakup, decline, destruction, doom, fate, ruin, setting, sinking), sturz (camber, collapse, cropper, dash, drop, fall, lintel, overthrow, plunge, precipitation, slump, spill, subversiveness, tumble, upset). (various references)

Greek 

καταιγίδα (rainstorm, squall, storm, tempest, thunderstorm). (various references)

Hebrew 

מ�"חפ�" (obstacle, overthrow), מבול (deluge, down pour, flood, inundation, spate, torrent), תבוס�" (beating, checkmate, collapse, defeat, drubbing, licking, overthrow, rout, setback, thrashing), כשלון (abortion, fail, failure, fiasco, stumbling), �"חי (destruction, failure), �'שם שוטף (down pour, downpour), � פיל�" (collapse, defeat, degradation, fall, falling, pitch, slip, spilling, tumble). (various references)

Hungarian

esés (alignment, crump, descent, droop, drop, ebb, fall, falling, flop, gradient, setback, spill, tumble), bukás (breakdown, catastrophe, come down, debacle, doom, failure, fall, fiasco, mucker, overthrow, spill, tumble). (various references)

Indonesian

kiamat (destruction, doomsday), keruntuhan (debacle). (various references)

Italian

rovescio (back, backhand, heavy shower, opposite, other side, reverse, shower, wrong side), precipitazione (abruptness, knockout, precipitation, rainfall), crollo (breakdown, cave in, collapse, crash, dash, drop, fall, ruin, shock, slump, smash, smasher, tumbling down), caduta & rovina, caduta (crash, drop, fall, falling, plunge, slide, slump, spill, toss, tumble). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

滅亡 (collapse, destruction, ruin). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

すいぼう (collapse, flood prevention, ruin), すいめつ (decline, ruin), ふりょうか (degradation), れいらく (falling into straitened circumstances, ruin), めつぼう (collapse, destruction, ruin). (various references)

Korean 

낙 (Fall, Falls). (various references)

Manx

thooilley (cloudburst, deluge, downpour, effusion, flood, flow, inundation, onrush, spate, stream, water-spout), lhieggey (bowl over, cataract, chop down, demolish, dismount, drop, fall, fall down, fell, fire, hew, overbalance, overflow, pick off, pull down, run over, spill, strike, striking, throw, topple, tumble, weigh down). (various references)

Pig Latin

ownfallday

Portuguese

desagregação (cloud-burst, dissolution, weathering), ruína (breakdown, cloud-burst, collapse, confusion, crash, curse, decay, destruction, deterioration, devastation, dilapidation, disrepair, doom, lurch, overthrow, overturn, perdition, rack, ravage, ruin, ruination, shipwreck, smash, undoing, upset, waste, wrack, wreck), queda (cloud-burst, come-down, debacle, decay, descent, fallback, falling, letdown, mucker, overthrow, prolapse, purler, spill, tumble, tumbling, upset), perdição (bane, perdition, ruin, ruination), carga (bulk, burden, cargo, charge, cloud-burst, fardel, freight, freightage, job, lading, load, loading, refill, rush, task, weight). (various references)

Romanian

ruinare (crash, decay, dilapidation), prãvãlire (collapse, falling down), prãbuşire (break, break down, break up, burst up, collapse, crack up, crash, debacle, decay, drop, fall, labefaction), ploaie torenţialã (downpour, drench, drencher, pelter, shower, torrent), ninsoare mare, cãdere (authority, becomingness, break down, collapse, cropper, debacle, destruction, drop, failure, fall, labefaction, lapse, plump, rot, spill, Turkey), aversã (downpour, drencher, drift). (various references)

Russian 

падение (come down, come-down, decline, descent, down, drop, fall, falling, incidence, lapse, letdown, pitch, recession, subsidence, tumble). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

propast (bane, calamity, failure, perdition, precipice, ruin, ruination, smash, wrack, wreck), pljusak (downpour, drench, drencher, rain, rainstorm, shower, soaker), pad (collapse, come down, decline, drop, fall, hang, overturn, spill, tumble). (various references)

Spanish

ruina (bankruptcy, destruction, rape, ruin, ruination, undoing, wreck), hundimiento (sag, sagging, sinking, submergence, subsidence), caída (collapse, crash, crush, decadence, decadency, demise, digression, disgrace, drop, fall, falling, gradient, hang, plunge, sag, setback, spill, taste, toss, tumble), bajada (decease, declension, degradation, depreciation, descent, digression, disparagement, drop, fallal, groundling, hang, inclination, sinking, slope, subsidence, taste). (various references)

Swedish

skyfall (cloudburst, deluge, downpour). (various references)

Thai

ความหายนะ (cataclysm, catastrophe, havoc). (various references)

Turkish

düşme (descent, drop, fall, falling away, falling down, falling off, flop, precipitation, sag, scale down, slump, spill, tumble), yağış (fall, precipitation, rains), yıkılma (collapse, crack up, decay, fall, shipwreck, subversion, wreck), çökme (collapse, crack up, decline, depression, dip, sag, slump, subsidence), çöküş (breakup, collapse, decadence, decay, decline, descent, fall, ruins, smash up, sunset, twilight). (various references)

Ukrainian

злива (cannonade, cloud-burst, deluge, drench, drencher, floodwaters, gush, hail, pour, scat, shower, soaker, spate), повалення (labefaction, overthrow, overturn, precipitation, subversion), падіння (bathos, come down, cracker, demission, drop, dropping, fall, falling, labefaction, subsidence, tumble, upset). (various references)

Vietnamese 

trận mưa như trút nước sự sa sút, sự trút xuống, sự suy vi, sự suy sụp (breakdown, decline, descent). (various references)

casus, ruina. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "downfall": downfallen, downfalls. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Downfall" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Donnall, downflex, downful, downhall, townful. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: lowland.

-2 letters: fallow.

-3 letters: adown, aldol, allod, allow, flown, llano, nodal, waldo, woald.

-4 letters: alow, awol, dawn, doll, dona, down, fado, fall, fano, fawn, flan, flaw, flow, foal, fold, fond, fowl, land, lawn, load, loaf, loan, lown, olla, wall, wand, woad, wold, wolf.

-5 letters: ado, all, and, awl, awn, dal, daw, dol, don, dow, fad.

+1 letter: downfalls.

+2 letters: downfallen.

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