touchdown

touch·down | \ ˈtəch-ˌdau̇n

Definition of touchdown

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : the act of touching a football to the ground behind an opponent's goal specifically : the act of scoring six points in American football by being lawfully in possession of the ball on, above, or behind an opponent's goal line when the ball is declared dead

2 : the act or moment of touching down (as with an airplane or spacecraft)

touch down

verb

touched down; touching down; touches down

Definition of touch down (Entry 2 of 2)

intransitive verb

: to reach the ground : land

transitive verb

: to place (the ball in rugby) by hand on the ground on or over an opponent's goal line in scoring a try or behind one's own goal line as a defensive measure

Synonyms & Antonyms Example Sentences Learn More about touchdown

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Examples of touchdown in a Sentence

Noun What was the plane's speed at touchdown? Verb the plane will touch down in about 30 minutes

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Euclid finally put a touchdown drive together midway through the second quarter. — cleveland, "St. Edward football dominates Euclid, 47-9, as Conor O’Malley ties school mark with 5 TD passes," 16 Nov. 2019 Sophomore Brandon Roberts also caught a touchdown and rushed for another score and Wilson Cal added six catches for 102 yards and a score. — Dan Albano, Orange County Register, "Football roundup: Cypress, Hurtado rally on the road to stun Ventura in quarterfinals," 16 Nov. 2019 Ryan Fitzpatrick will lead two touchdown drives, while Jason Sanders kicks three field goals for the second straight week to beat Josh Allen and Buffalo. — Keven Lerner, sun-sentinel.com, "Staff predictions: Miami Dolphins (2-7) vs. Buffalo Bills (6-3)," 14 Nov. 2019 Trubisky completed 16 of 23 passes for 173 yards and led three straight touchdown drives from the end of the second quarter to the beginning of the third. — Colleen Kane, chicagotribune.com, "3 things we heard from Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky, including building on the win over the Lions and facing the Rams’ Aaron Donald," 13 Nov. 2019 Now the Bears, 12-4 last season, are 4-5, and the doubts have gone from a trickle to a torrent, even after last week’s three-touchdown performance in a win over Detroit. — New York Times, "Could These Teams Use a Quarterback Like Colin Kaepernick?," 13 Nov. 2019 In the third quarter, with the 49ers leading 10-7, Garoppolo’s on-target pass ricocheted off Bourne and the resulting interception set up a 16-yard touchdown drive. — Eric Branch, SFChronicle.com, "For 49ers, which was worse Monday night: Garoppolo or his supporting cast?," 12 Nov. 2019 That difference proved critical when Hoyer was unable to lead the Colts on a game-winning touchdown drive. — Jim Ayello, Indianapolis Star, "Insider: Colts suffer shocking loss to Dolphins as Vinatieri, Ebron, Hoyer struggle," 10 Nov. 2019 Jackson conducted the Ravens on three-straight touchdown drives in the first half to put the game out of reach. — Tyler Dragon, Cincinnati.com, "What we learned: Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens blow out Cincinnati Bengals 49-13," 10 Nov. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb In October 2016, Europe's small Schiaparelli lander entered the Martian atmosphere and attempted to touch down on the surface of the red planet. — Eric Berger, Ars Technica, "Europe’s Mars lander parachute problems may be worse than thought," 10 Sep. 2019 In addition to setting a global first, a successful landing would have made India just the fourth country to touch down anywhere on the lunar surface, and only the third nation to operate a robotic rover there. — Michael Greshko, National Geographic, "India’s first lunar lander falls silent just before touchdown," 6 Sep. 2019 Modi had been in the mission control room when the lander was supposed to touch down. — Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, "Early signs are that India’s moon mission has failed," 6 Sep. 2019 That last part will be made possible thanks to Mars 2020's Sample Caching System, which will hold samples in anticipation of a human explorer touching down on the planet and returning them to Earth. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Bicep Curls and Batteries: The Mars 2020 Rover Is Coming Together," 1 Aug. 2019 Over 33,000 people in Massachusetts are without power after a tornado with wind speeds up to 110 mph touched down in Cape Cod on Tuesday. — Fox News, "Tornado hits Cape Cod leaving more than 33,000 residents without power," 24 July 2019 The eighth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, Apollo 14 was the third to land on the Moon and the first to touch down in the lunar highlands. — Casey Smith, Indianapolis Star, "Across Indiana, trees are growing from seeds that went to the Moon. Here's where you can find them.," 17 July 2019 The singer slash actress touched down at the airport in Nice, France, wearing all-white. — Vogue, "Selena Gomez Kicks Off Cannes With a Luxurious Airport Look," 13 May 2019 This led to at least three tornadoes touching down across South Florida. — Matthew Cappucci, Washington Post, "Three-inch hail and multiple tornadoes raked the Sunshine State on Tuesday," 11 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'touchdown.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.