face down
adjective or adverb
variants
or less commonly face-down
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
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
David Kwiatkowski… stood up so fast he knocked his plate of waffles facedown onto the floor.—Ingrid Law
—usually hyphenated before a nounIngrid Law… 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
William J. LynottExamples of face down in a Sentence
The cards were dealt facedown.
He fell facedown in the sand.
Recent Examples on the Web
In 2018, Esther Laskin looked at the debris in her Hamden yard – the cracked toilet, pieces of twisted metal from a shower door, the ceramic owl face down in the mud.
—Matthew Ormseth, Hartford Courant, 25 June 2024
Firefighters this month found a man lying face down, dead in the park’s lake.
—Andrew Khouri, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2024
One study from Drive Research found that while most shoppers spent an average of $174 per grocery trip in 2024, the number greatly fluctuates depending on the number of mouths to feed: a single person can expect to pay around $131 per trip, while a family of five might face down a bill of $262.
—Simmone Shah, TIME, 18 June 2024
Then, women and men showed up to face down the trolls in micro moments of solidarity.
—Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY, 6 June 2024
While face down, Royal slid a black object across the ground toward the officers.
—Nick Ferraro, Twin Cities, 4 June 2024
Place face down on a griddle or on the grill grates over direct medium heat.
—Lynda Balslev, The Mercury News, 3 June 2024
With its control of the interior ministry and the military, the party will likely be able to face down those protests, but its legitimacy will continue to crumble.
—Nate Schenkkan, Foreign Affairs, 21 June 2019
Images of Gaytán’s body lying face down on the street with blood flowing from her head were soon online.
—Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2024
Matthew Ormseth, Hartford Courant, 25 June 2024
Firefighters this month found a man lying face down, dead in the park’s lake.
—Andrew Khouri, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2024
One study from Drive Research found that while most shoppers spent an average of $174 per grocery trip in 2024, the number greatly fluctuates depending on the number of mouths to feed: a single person can expect to pay around $131 per trip, while a family of five might face down a bill of $262.
—Simmone Shah, TIME, 18 June 2024
Then, women and men showed up to face down the trolls in micro moments of solidarity.
—Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY, 6 June 2024
While face down, Royal slid a black object across the ground toward the officers.
—Nick Ferraro, Twin Cities, 4 June 2024
Place face down on a griddle or on the grill grates over direct medium heat.
—Lynda Balslev, The Mercury News, 3 June 2024
With its control of the interior ministry and the military, the party will likely be able to face down those protests, but its legitimacy will continue to crumble.
—Nate Schenkkan, Foreign Affairs, 21 June 2019
Images of Gaytán’s body lying face down on the street with blood flowing from her head were soon online.
—Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'face down.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near face down
Cite this Entry
“Face down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/face%20down. Accessed 7 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
facedown
adverb
face·down
ˈfās-ˈdau̇n 
: with the face down
floated facedown
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