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

On many of the planes, the boom operator works lying face down while looking out of a window on the underside of the plane. —Kim Tong-Hyung, Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2026

Now in New York, he is tasked with both furthering and reviving a pitching ecosystem that last June appeared the envy of the major leagues, only to fall flat on its face down the stretch. —Tim Britton, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2026

Because Arnold was found lying face down in the living room and had prior health issues, family and first responders did not immediately discover that he had been shot, prosecutors said. —Evy Lewis, Chicago Tribune, 11 Mar. 2026

Whoever is chosen for the role will face down a fraught debate over Germany’s historic allegiance to Israel and the legal boundaries of pro-Palestinian speech. —Shira Li Bartov, Sun Sentinel, 9 Mar. 2026

South Padre Island Police Department After he's shot three times, Martinez is seen being pulled from his vehicle, thrown to the ground by an ICE agent, face down, and then handcuffed. —Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News, 7 Mar. 2026

Given the ferocity of the regime’s response to the protests in January, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of Iranians, are Iranians willing to face down Iran’s internal security forces and drive what remains of the regime from power? —Javed Ali, Fortune, 1 Mar. 2026

Given the ferocity of the regime’s response to the protests in January, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of Iranians, are Iranians willing to face down Iran’s internal security forces and drive what remains of the regime from power? —Javed Ali, The Conversation, 28 Feb. 2026

These three brave men have come to fight for the future of Australian agriculture, to face down a foe the Australian army has never faced before. —Tom Hawking, Popular Science, 25 Feb. 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