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
… she walked past us to the lab area, placed the paper face down on the table and looked back at us.David Kwiatkowski
… stood up so fast he knocked his plate of waffles facedown onto the floor.Ingrid Law
usually hyphenated before a noun
… 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

Examples of face down in a Sentence

The cards were dealt facedown. He fell facedown in the sand.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
He was found face down in a pillow, the coroner said. Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 18 Mar. 2025 Angela Prichard was found lying face down in the kennel's washroom when investigators arrived at the scene. Jonathan Vigliotti, CBS News, 16 Mar. 2025 Turn the pans face down onto the cooling rack, and carefully lift them off. Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 14 Mar. 2025 Glaser was found face down in the bathtub, WCAU reported citing court records. Lauren Liebhaber, Miami Herald, 12 Mar. 2025 Recovered from the coastal town of Herculaneum, which along with Pompeii was wiped out by the eruption, the remains belonged to an individual, thought to be a young man, who was found lying face down on a bed buried by volcanic ash. Katie Hunt, CNN, 27 Feb. 2025 The first day of filming the 1984 movie found Macchio face down in a face full of sand on a Southern California beach when his New Jersey transplant Daniel LaRusso is beaten up by Cobra Kai teen bad boy Johnny Lawrence (Zabka) and his goons. Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 14 Feb. 2025 Seeing Hill face down on the ground surrounded by officers who were not Black like him, my mind raced to George Floyd. Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 4 Mar. 2025 The flight crew asked for help from passengers and several people stepped in and restrained the man face down in the aisle, according to a criminal complaint. Jennifer Rodriguez, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1818, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of face down was in 1818

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Face down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/face%20down. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

Kids Definition

facedown

adverb
face·​down ˈfās-ˈdau̇n How to pronounce facedown (audio)
: with the face down
floated facedown
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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