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

Overcoming the first son, the group continues their journey only to face down one after another, each with his own gimmick: The pirate son with his sea-creature half-men minions, for instance; a band of hunters with their own, even deadlier werewolf. —Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 17 May 2025

Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said deputies found 57-year-old Candace Broyles face down on the floor of the living room before finding 27-year-old Cara Broyles in her bed and 28-year-old Aaron Broyles on the carpet of his bedroom. —Olivia Lloyd, Miami Herald, 15 May 2025

The boy was face down with his torso on a couch cushion while his mother was directly on top of him. —Rosalio Ahumada, Sacbee.com, 14 May 2025

At the apartment, officers found a man lying face down on the entryway with a gunshot wound to his lower abdomen, per the criminal complaint. —Kimberlee Speakman, People.com, 26 Apr. 2025

Instead, Polaroid users should allow their photos to develop face down out of the light. —Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Apr. 2025

Later in the video, Arenas is seen trying to get up after lying face down in the street in a few inches of water while the hydrant continued to spray. —Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 25 Apr. 2025

Officers repeatedly shocked him with a Taser, dragged him by his ankle shackles and then left him face down in the road. —Topher Sanders, ProPublica, 14 Apr. 2025

Deputies reviewed the video and confirmed seeing the victim lying face down in the sand with Turner mounting his back and striking the victim in the back of the head with a clenched fist. —Stepheny Price, Fox News, 19 Mar. 2025

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