face down
adjective or adverb
variants
or less commonly face-down
or facedown
: with the face down
He was face down on the bed. = He was lying face down on the bed.
Two cards are dealt face down to each player, then the first round of bets is made.—
Thomas L. Clark
Thomas L. Clark… she walked past us to the lab area, placed the paper face down on the table and looked back at us.—David Kwiatkowski
David Kwiatkowski… stood up so fast he knocked his plate of waffles facedown onto the floor.—Ingrid Law
—usually hyphenated before a nounIngrid Law… an alternate paper path has been added to turn out face-down copies in proper order, so they don't have to be collated manually.—William J. Lynott
William J. LynottExamples of face down in a Sentence
The cards were dealt facedown.
He fell facedown in the sand.
Recent Examples on the Web
The outlets reported, citing police, that the son discovered his mother lying face down in a pool of blood from stab wounds and his father dead in another room.
—Luke Chinman, PEOPLE, 30 Apr. 2026
Trump also posted photographs of the suspect, believed to be Allen, shirtless and handcuffed, face down on the floor with officers surrounding him.
—Rebecca Schneid, Time, 27 Apr. 2026
My agent, Marty Diamond, had to face down a steady stream of ‘no’s from fearful artist reps.
—Michael Schneider, Variety, 27 Apr. 2026
Ironically, the cloaked and armored marble statue of the goddess was found face down in the rubble near the outer wall of the stage.
—Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 26 Apr. 2026
Boldy struck the ice face-first and stayed face down for several seconds, until a whistle came.
—CBS News, 22 Apr. 2026
Video shot by a bystander showed Bostic sprawled face down on the ground as an officer knelt on his back, pulling an arm back to handcuff him.
—Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2026
And yeah, that feeling of reaching a new place, finally putting your phone face down, feeling your shoulders drop, and letting someone else take care of your every need sure does sound nice.
—Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 6 Apr. 2026
Lambert’s body was located in a nearby cul-de-sac in the passenger seat of a 2014 Ford Fusion Titanium, still face down with the seat reclined.
—Julia Bonavita, FOXNews.com, 31 Mar. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Luke Chinman, PEOPLE, 30 Apr. 2026
Trump also posted photographs of the suspect, believed to be Allen, shirtless and handcuffed, face down on the floor with officers surrounding him.
—Rebecca Schneid, Time, 27 Apr. 2026
My agent, Marty Diamond, had to face down a steady stream of ‘no’s from fearful artist reps.
—Michael Schneider, Variety, 27 Apr. 2026
Ironically, the cloaked and armored marble statue of the goddess was found face down in the rubble near the outer wall of the stage.
—Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 26 Apr. 2026
Boldy struck the ice face-first and stayed face down for several seconds, until a whistle came.
—CBS News, 22 Apr. 2026
Video shot by a bystander showed Bostic sprawled face down on the ground as an officer knelt on his back, pulling an arm back to handcuff him.
—Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2026
And yeah, that feeling of reaching a new place, finally putting your phone face down, feeling your shoulders drop, and letting someone else take care of your every need sure does sound nice.
—Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 6 Apr. 2026
Lambert’s body was located in a nearby cul-de-sac in the passenger seat of a 2014 Ford Fusion Titanium, still face down with the seat reclined.
—Julia Bonavita, FOXNews.com, 31 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Face down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/face%20down. Accessed 7 May. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
facedown
adverb
face·down
ˈfās-ˈdau̇n 
: with the face down
floated facedown
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