Word of the Day

: December 26, 2023

chapfallen

adjective CHAP-faw-lun

What It Means

Chapfallen (less commonly spelled chopfallen) is a synonym of depressed that means "cast down in spirit." It can also mean "having the lower jaw hanging loosely."

// Gina was chapfallen when she learned that her best friend's visit would have to be postponed.

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chapfallen in Context

"The disappointment and grief of the party's base transformed quickly—from chapfallen into broad smiles." — Jonathan Jobson, The Sunday Herald (Glasgow, Scotland), 19 Feb. 2023

Did You Know?

Finally: an answer to the age-old question "why the long face?" To be chapfallen is, literally, to have one’s jaw in a fallen or lower position, a physical sign of dejection. The chap in chapfallen is a word that dates back to at least the 16th century. It refers to the fleshy covering of the jaw or to the jaw itself and is often used in the plural, as in "the wolf licked its chaps." If that phrase doesn’t seem quite right to you, it’s likely because you are more familiar with chops, an alteration of chaps that is also used to refer to the jaw or the mouth. Accordingly, a variant spelling of chapfallen is chopfallen, which may help us to better understand this somewhat unusual word.