crestfallen

adjective

crest·​fall·​en ˈkrest-ˌfȯ-lən How to pronounce crestfallen (audio)
1
: having a drooping crest or hanging head
2
: feeling shame or humiliation : dejected
After losing the playoff game, the team was crestfallen.
crestfallenly adverb
crestfallenness noun

Examples of crestfallen in a Sentence

she was crestfallen when she found out she hadn't got the job
Recent Examples on the Web But in 1995, when NIDA discontinued ibogaine funding over its heart dangers, Dr. Mash was crestfallen. Andrew Jacobs, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2024 Bam Adebayo, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kevin Love taught the Kings a lesson in Heat Culture, leading a depleted team to a stunning 121-110 victory before a crestfallen crowd of 17,832 at Golden 1 Center. Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 27 Feb. 2024 Wiles, who survives mostly on $1,000 a month in disability benefits, was crestfallen. Calmatters, The Mercury News, 9 Jan. 2024 The felled teammate headed to the exit, looking crestfallen. Max Kim, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2023 Perpetually drawn to the outdoors, from searching for bones amid post-WW2 rubble as a kid, to voyaging to Donovan’s Scottish commune by horse and carriage in her 20s, Bunyan long rooted her music’s roving spirit in a desire for physicality that’s muddy and crestfallen. Pitchfork, 20 Nov. 2023 But perhaps no one was as crestfallen as A.L.S. advocates, who lamented only that the F.D.A. had not yet shown them the same generosity. Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 19 June 2023 But Shapovalov was both crestfallen and disappointed with Nadal, the Spanish champion whom Shapovalov first met as a nine-year-old ball boy during the Canadian Open in Montreal and then defeated, Hollywood-style, in the same city in their first match in 2017. New York Times, 25 Jan. 2022 Molitor, standing on deck when Manning delivered the hit, was the first one to greet the night's hero, but Brewers fans were crestfallen that Molitor didn't get one last shot to reach 40 games. Jr Radcliffe, Journal Sentinel, 12 Apr. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crestfallen.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

see crest entry 1

First Known Use

1589, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of crestfallen was in 1589

Dictionary Entries Near crestfallen

Cite this Entry

“Crestfallen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crestfallen. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

crestfallen

adjective
crest·​fall·​en ˈkrest-ˌfȯ-lən How to pronounce crestfallen (audio)
: very sad and disappointed

More from Merriam-Webster on crestfallen

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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