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

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 22 Mar. 2025.

Kids Definition

: with the face down
floated facedown
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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