COME DOWN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does come down mean? 

• COME DOWN (verb)
  The verb COME DOWN has 5 senses:

1. move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way

2. be the essential element

3. fall from clouds

4. get sick

5. criticize or reprimand harshly

  Familiarity information: COME DOWN used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COME DOWN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

come down; descend; fall; go down

Context example:

Her hand went up and then fell again

Hypernyms (to "come down" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "come down"):

topple; tumble (fall down, as if collapsing)

cascade; cascade down (rush down in big quantities, like a cascade)

drip (fall in drops)

pounce; swoop (move down on as if in an attack)

go down; go under; settle; sink (go under)

alight; climb down (come down)

pitch (fall or plunge forward)

plop (drop with the sound of something falling into water)

drop (to fall vertically)

flop (fall suddenly and abruptly)

crash (fall or come down violently)

sink; subside (descend into or as if into some soft substance or place)

precipitate (fall vertically, sharply, or headlong)

correct; decline; slump (go down in value)

go down; go under; set (disappear beyond the horizon)

dive; plunge; plunk (drop steeply)

avalanche; roll down (gather into a huge mass and roll down a mountain, of snow)

dismount; get down; get off; light; unhorse (alight from (a horse))

abseil; rappel; rope down (descend by means of a rappel)

prolapse (slip or fall out of place, as of body parts)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

The airplane is sure to come down

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be the essential element

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

boil down; come down; reduce

Context example:

The proposal boils down to a compromise

Hypernyms (to "come down" is one way to...):

become; turn (undergo a change or development)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Fall from clouds

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

come down; fall; precipitate

Context example:

Vesuvius precipitated its fiery, destructive rage on Herculaneum

"Come down" entails doing...:

condense; distil; distill (undergo condensation; change from a gaseous to a liquid state and fall in drops)

Verb group:

fall (descend in free fall under the influence of gravity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "come down"):

rain; rain down (precipitate as rain)

spat (come down like raindrops)

snow (fall as snow)

hail (precipitate as small ice particles)

sleet (precipitate as a mixture of rain and snow)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Get sick

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

come down; sicken

Context example:

She fell sick last Friday, and now she is in the hospital

Hypernyms (to "come down" is one way to...):

decline; worsen (grow worse)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "come down"):

contract; get; take (be stricken by an illness, fall victim to an illness)

canker (become infected with a canker)

wan (become pale and sickly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 5

Meaning:

Criticize or reprimand harshly

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

The critics came down hard on the new play

Hypernyms (to "come down" is one way to...):

criticise; criticize; knock; pick apart (find fault with; express criticism of; point out real or perceived flaws)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

We did not come down again.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Make haste, and come down this moment.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Well, one day I went up in a balloon and the ropes got twisted, so that I couldn't come down again.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

What I mean is, would he be likely to come down to the toon of, say one thousand pounds out of money that's as good as a man's own already?

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

When a steamer arrived, the men of the fort made it a point always to come down to the bank and see the fun.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Dark rumours gathered round him in the university town, and eventually he was compelled to resign his chair and to come down to London, where he set up as an Army coach.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You beckoned him to come down.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I notice that when I have the greatest pressure on me, I come down with a miserable cold.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Why don’t you come down and kill me, you murderer? You can do it! I ain’t afraid!

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But Martin could not come down from the height.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)