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 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

Carter, 43, was found face down on a dead-end street with no clothing except for a pair of socks, Birmingham Detective Finke said, AL.com reported. —Samira Asma-Sadeque, Peoplemag, 14 Mar. 2024

While Abu Hassan was lying face down, one of the settlers pulled him up by the hair. —Shane Bauer, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2024

Police responded to a call about 2 a.m. of a man lying face down in the street near 8th and Alvarado streets in Westlake, west of downtown, according to Officer Norma Eisenman, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department. —Melissa Gomez, Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2024

Someone called 911 shortly after 12:15 p.m. to report seeing a body floating face down in the creek near Post Oak Village Park, according to police records. —Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1818, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

facedown

adverb

face·​down ˈfās-ˈdau̇n 

: with the face down

floated facedown