GO DOWN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does go down mean? 

• GO DOWN (verb)
  The verb GO DOWN has 8 senses:

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

2. go under

3. grow smaller

4. be recorded or remembered

5. be ingested

6. be defeated

7. disappear beyond the horizon

8. stop operating

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• GO 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 "go 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 "go down"):

flop (fall suddenly and abruptly)

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)

topple; tumble (fall down, as if collapsing)

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 go down

Sense 2

Meaning:

Go under

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

go down; go under; settle; sink

Context example:

The raft sank and its occupants drowned

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

come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)

Verb group:

sink (cause to sink)

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

settle; subside (sink down or precipitate)

founder (sink below the surface)

submerge; submerse (sink below the surface; go under or as if under water)

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 3

Meaning:

Grow smaller

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

decline; go down; wane

Context example:

Interest in the project waned

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

decrease; diminish; fall; lessen (decrease in size, extent, or range)

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

wear on (pass slowly (of time))

drop (go down in value)

dip (go down momentarily)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be recorded or remembered

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

She will go down as the first feminist

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 5

Meaning:

Be ingested

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Context example:

The food wouldn't go down

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something ----s Adjective/Noun

Sense 6

Meaning:

Be defeated

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Context example:

If America goes down, the free world will go down, too

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

lose (fail to win)

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 7

Meaning:

Disappear beyond the horizon

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

go down; go under; set

Context example:

the sun sets early these days

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

come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)

Domain category:

astronomy; uranology (the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

The moon will soon go down

Sense 8

Meaning:

Stop operating

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

crash; go down

Context example:

The system goes down at least once a week

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

break; break down; conk out; die; fail; give out; give way; go; go bad (stop operating or functioning)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

 Context examples 

"Did he not go down to the salt lake that is big as the sky?" Ebbits demanded.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

A promise made to me, but made holily in God's hearing, and not to be broken though I should go down on my knees and implore you with bitter tears.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Well, every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for Eyford.

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

But when her mother was gone, Jane would not be prevailed on to go down without one of her sisters.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I think I will go down and see my old nurse.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“I expect that we shall be able to go down to Norfolk tomorrow, and to take our friend some very definite news as to the secret of his annoyance.”

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

“Since you have preserved my narration,” said he, “I would not that a mutilated one should go down to posterity.”

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“This is still very new technology and expansion beyond the intermediate scale may require us to go down to the single particle level.”

(Quantum state of single electrons controlled by ‘surfing’ on sound waves, University of Cambridge)

I always hear him unlock it as I go down the stair after I leave the tray.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was always a gallant ruffian, who disdained to go down before an antagonist as long as his legs would sustain him.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)