face down

adjective or adverb

variants or less commonly face-down

ˌfās-ˈdau̇n 

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

… she walked past us to the lab area, placed the paper face down on the table and looked back at us.

—David Kwiatkowski

… stood up so fast he knocked his plate of waffles facedown onto the floor.

—Ingrid Law

—usually hyphenated before a noun

… 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

Examples of face down in a Sentence

The cards were dealt facedown.

He fell facedown in the sand.

Recent Examples on the Web

The car overturned at the Top Gear Dunsfold Park Aerodrome, dragging Flintoff face down underneath for about 50 metres and leaving him with severe facial disfigurement injuries, rib injuries and trauma. — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 13 July 2026

On Sunday morning, about two miles away, in the 500 block of Northwest 107th Avenue, a father found his 4-year-old daughter face down in a lake behind their house, police said. — David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 10 July 2026

Federal officers stand over a man with a bloody shirt who is handcuffed face down, moaning in pain as his left foot shakes. — Andrea Castillo, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2026

When emergency responders arrived, Benning was found without a pulse, face down across a bed. — Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 2 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1818, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for face down

• chinatown
• tumbledown
• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown

Kids Definition

facedown

adverb

face·​down ˈfās-ˈdau̇n 

: with the face down

floated facedown