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
Landeros died after fleeing a traffic collision and being subdued by officers who handcuffed him and held him face down.
—Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee, 19 Apr. 2024
The Cleveland Division of Police was called about the shooting on Aug. 15, 2023, and officers found an unresponsive male lying face down on the ground.
—Tanasia Kenney, Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2024
Reed’s body is later found lying face down behind the vehicle.
—Omar Jimenez, CNN, 9 Apr. 2024
The lord was buried face down on top of her, and experts are uncertain about the nature of the relationship between them.
—Julia Binswanger, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Mar. 2024
The victim had visible external injuries to her forehead and upper lip and claimed a man had punched her in the head, strangled her with two hands around her neck, and pushed a pillow on the back of her head as she was face down on the mattress.
—Anne Gelhaus, The Mercury News, 9 Apr. 2024
The affidavit says that at one point Hinnant fell to the ground face down, his back toward the pursuing officers.
—Martin Weil, Washington Post, 9 Apr. 2024
The 23-year-old victim had been shot and was face down in one of two areas of the alley that had been set on fire.
—Emerson Clarridge, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 Apr. 2024
First responders reportedly found the couple's 2-year-old boy face down in a pool in the backyard.
—USA TODAY, 2 Apr. 2024
Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee, 19 Apr. 2024
The Cleveland Division of Police was called about the shooting on Aug. 15, 2023, and officers found an unresponsive male lying face down on the ground.
—Tanasia Kenney, Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2024
Reed’s body is later found lying face down behind the vehicle.
—Omar Jimenez, CNN, 9 Apr. 2024
The lord was buried face down on top of her, and experts are uncertain about the nature of the relationship between them.
—Julia Binswanger, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Mar. 2024
The victim had visible external injuries to her forehead and upper lip and claimed a man had punched her in the head, strangled her with two hands around her neck, and pushed a pillow on the back of her head as she was face down on the mattress.
—Anne Gelhaus, The Mercury News, 9 Apr. 2024
The affidavit says that at one point Hinnant fell to the ground face down, his back toward the pursuing officers.
—Martin Weil, Washington Post, 9 Apr. 2024
The 23-year-old victim had been shot and was face down in one of two areas of the alley that had been set on fire.
—Emerson Clarridge, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 Apr. 2024
First responders reportedly found the couple's 2-year-old boy face down in a pool in the backyard.
—USA TODAY, 2 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'face down.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near face down
Cite this Entry
“Face down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/face%20down. Accessed 3 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
facedown
adverb
face·down
ˈfās-ˈdau̇n 
: with the face down
floated facedown
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