nail down

phrasal verb

nailed down; nailing down; nails down

1

: to make (something, such as a victory) certain to happen

They need to score another touchdown to nail down the victory.

2

: to find out or identify (something) exactly

Her doctors haven't yet been able to nail down a diagnosis.

They're trying to nail down the cause of our network problems.

3

: to make (something) definite or final

nail down a decision

Examples of nail down in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Truth Teller reporters repeatedly go undercover to nail down relatively trivial scoops, appearing, in the process, to flagrantly violate the Society of Professional Journalists’ ethical guidelines. —Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 5 Sep. 2025

Without needing to finalize specs, worry about performance, or nail down a price to launch this as a real product, the core components could be anything. —PC Magazine, 5 Sep. 2025

Gosh, that would be hard to nail down. —Indianapolis Star, IndyStar, 5 Sep. 2025

And after the Tigers' three-game sweep at the hands of the Athletics, this series against the second-place Royals has become somewhat important, with the Tigers wanting to nail down their first division title since 2014. —Christian Romo, Freep.com, 30 Aug. 2025

Rhymes for nail down

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown