Skip to the word

Added 7 October 2026

fall

/fɔːl/ noun

In Latin: cado Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about fall at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The season when the leaves fall from the trees.
in the fall of 1973
A sudden drop from an upright position.
he had a nasty spill on the ice
The lapse of mankind into sinfulness because of the sin of Adam and Eve.
women have been blamed ever since the Fall

verb

Descend in free fall under the influence of gravity.
The branch fell from the tree
Move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way.
The temperature is going down
Pass suddenly and passively into a state of body or mind.
fall into a trap

Origin

Verb from Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan (“to fall, fail, decay, die, attack”), from Proto-West Germanic *fallan (“to fall”), from Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃elh₁- (“to collapse, fall; to destroy”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Back to today's word