FALLING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does falling mean? 

• FALLING (adjective)
  The adjective FALLING has 3 senses:

1. decreasing in amount or degree

2. becoming lower or less in degree or value

3. coming down freely under the influence of gravity

  Familiarity information: FALLING used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FALLING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Decreasing in amount or degree

Context example:

falling temperature

Similar:

decreasing (becoming less or smaller)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Becoming lower or less in degree or value

Context example:

falling incomes

Similar:

down (becoming progressively lower)

soft ((of a commodity or market or currency) falling or likely to fall in value)

Antonym:

rising (advancing or becoming higher or greater in degree or value or status)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Coming down freely under the influence of gravity

Synonyms:

dropping; falling

Context example:

falling rain

Similar:

descending (coming down or downward)

 Context examples 

By the time Cassiar Bar was reached, he was so weak that he was falling repeatedly in the traces.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

It was difficult to walk without falling into muddy holes, for the grass was so thick that it hid them from sight.

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

I was weaker than I knew then; and, not falling asleep until the sun was up, lay late, and unrefreshed, next day.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Here and there seemed mighty rifts in the mountains, through which, as the sun began to sink, we saw now and again the white gleam of falling water.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This full moon, falling in divine-for-Aquarius Gemini 20 degrees, will light your fifth house and bring you such happiness.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The night was very dark, and a thin, warm rain was falling.

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

These cold molecules, with temperatures as low as minus 250–260°C, were found to be falling inwards to the black hole.

(ALMA and MUSE Detect Galactic Fountain, ESO)

Usually, an object traveling at a similar speed would be a comet falling sunward from the outer solar system.

(New Study Shows What Interstellar Visitor ‘Oumuamua Can Teach Us, NASA)

The object is not expected to grow any larger, and may even be falling apart.

(Possible New Moon Forming Around Saturn, NASA)

Indeed, live-cell microscopy revealed nuclei in lobopodial cells pulling forward and falling backward like a piston.

(New Mechanism of Cell Movement Revealed, NIH)