as in decreased
to grow less in scope or intensity especially gradually
as the years went by, the public's interest in the murder case fell away
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Recent Examples of fell away
Video of the moment posted on TikTok showed Malone raising his cup and leaning over, as the edge of the stage fell away during the Arizona show.
—
Sydney Bucksbaum, Entertainment Weekly, 5 Jan. 2026
Safeguards fell away — removed intentionally to insure residents in need did not go hungry.
—Jonah Kaplan, CBS News, 5 Dec. 2025
Heroin chic fell away, and body positivity entered the fashion world.
—Madeline Holcombe, CNN Money, 11 Oct. 2025
In that moment, everything else fell away.
—Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe, PEOPLE, 10 Oct. 2025
Instead, that was the night all doubt fell away.
—Jack Royston, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Oct. 2025
Speleology fell away as a formal academic discipline after the war, Mattes explains.
—Danny Robb, JSTOR Daily, 12 Sep. 2025
Questions were fielded, concerns aired, and one by one, the reservations fell away.
—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 9 Sep. 2025
Over time, his work as a house painter fell away.
—Chris Kenning, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025
Sydney Bucksbaum, Entertainment Weekly, 5 Jan. 2026
Safeguards fell away — removed intentionally to insure residents in need did not go hungry.
—Jonah Kaplan, CBS News, 5 Dec. 2025
Heroin chic fell away, and body positivity entered the fashion world.
—Madeline Holcombe, CNN Money, 11 Oct. 2025
In that moment, everything else fell away.
—Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe, PEOPLE, 10 Oct. 2025
Instead, that was the night all doubt fell away.
—Jack Royston, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Oct. 2025
Speleology fell away as a formal academic discipline after the war, Mattes explains.
—Danny Robb, JSTOR Daily, 12 Sep. 2025
Questions were fielded, concerns aired, and one by one, the reservations fell away.
—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 9 Sep. 2025
Over time, his work as a house painter fell away.
—Chris Kenning, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fell away
Verb
-
While the short-term base rate decreased thanks to cuts from the Fed last year, analysts are widely expecting the base rate to decrease at a slower pace in the New Year.—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
12 Jan. 2026
-
When eccentricity decreased, the climate shifted toward drier conditions.—
Stefanie Waldek,
Space.com,
12 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
For about a month, nobody had any idea who had felled the tree, and nobody could work out why it had been done.—
Rosa Lyster,
Harpers Magazine,
30 Dec. 2025
-
The greatest damage appeared concentrated in the North Bay, where gusty winds felled numerous trees.—
Jakob Rodgers,
Mercury News,
24 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
What happens when these cues are greatly diminished or erased either by plastic surgery or other aesthetic interventions?—
Valerie Monroe,
Allure,
15 Jan. 2026
-
The prestige of its domestic institutions, once a pillar of American hegemony, has diminished.—
Pratap Bhanu Mehta,
Time,
15 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
In the two weeks since the Justice Department failed to fully meet a legal deadline to release its expansive tranche of files on Jeffrey Epstein, old conspiracy theories about his life and death have subsided and new ones have taken shape.—
Stephen Fowler,
NPR,
2 Jan. 2026
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As entheogenic effects subsided, the digital-age healer pulled out her iPhone and showed me photos from her recent trip home.—
María Cristina Lalonde,
Travel + Leisure,
29 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
Lastly, Vanderbilt transfer JaQualon Roberts has an opportunity to make an immediate impact after his play-time with the Commodores tapered off in his sophomore season.—
Hunter Bailey,
Charlotte Observer,
30 Oct. 2025
-
Most areas saw trace amounts of rainfall, less than a tenth of an inch, before the showers tapered off by midmorning.—
Hayleigh Evans,
AZCentral.com,
22 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fell away.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fell%20away. Accessed 21 Jan. 2026.
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