face-plant

1 of 2

noun

ˈfās-ˌplant 

variants or faceplant

plural face-plants or faceplants

: a sudden face-first fall

tripped and did a face-plant

face-plant

2 of 2

verb

variants or less commonly faceplant

face-planted also faceplanted; face-planting also faceplanting; face-plants also faceplants

: to fall suddenly and face-first : to do a face-plant

tripped and face-planted on the stage

Examples of face-plant in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

But Delapierre was flung forwards violently by the rapid deceleration and suffered a nasty face-plant into the cockpit. — Andrew Rice, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2026

Under any normal circumstance, a big-market franchise face-plant this hard would mean that heads roll this offseason. — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 17 Aug. 2026

Verb

A lot better after Saturday Oklahoma State suffered one of the most embarrassing losses of Week 1 when it face-planted against Tulsa. — Antonio Morales, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1981, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1986, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for face-plant

• confidante
• interplant
• sycophant
• ant
• aunt
• cant
• chant
• gant
• lant
• pant
• plant
• quant