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

Epstein walked in in a towel only and then lay face down on a massage table. — Abby Ellin, Vanity Fair, 27 July 2026

The remains, which were found face down, are set to undergo radiocarbon dating to determine their age. — Latoya Gayle, PEOPLE, 26 July 2026

And while the city recovers from the hangover of a weekend well-spent on women’s sports, the Sky must face down the back end of a season that is already almost lost. — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 25 July 2026

How adult tummy time affects your posture Lying face down puts your spine in the opposite position from the flexed posture that comes with staring at a phone. — Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 23 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