TOUCHDOWN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does touchdown mean? 

• TOUCHDOWN (noun)
  The noun TOUCHDOWN has 2 senses:

1. a score in American football; being in possession of the ball across the opponents' goal line

2. a landing (as the wheels touch the landing field); especially of airplanes

  Familiarity information: TOUCHDOWN used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TOUCHDOWN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A score in American football; being in possession of the ball across the opponents' goal line

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("touchdown" is a kind of...):

score (the act of scoring in a game or sport)

Domain category:

American football; American football game (a game played by two teams of 11 players on a rectangular field 100 yards long; teams try to get possession of the ball and advance it across the opponents goal line in a series of (running or passing) plays)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A landing (as the wheels touch the landing field); especially of airplanes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("touchdown" is a kind of...):

landing (the act of coming down to the earth (or other surface))

Derivation:

touch down (come or bring (a plane) to a landing)

 Context examples 

InSight's surface-operations phase began a minute after touchdown.

(NASA InSight Lander Arrives on Martian Surface, NASA)

They show that the lander survived its Dec. 25, 2003, touchdown enough to at least partially deploy its solar arrays.

('Lost' 2003 Mars Lander Found by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA)

Gary's successful touchdown on the Teflon — and on other perches of varying materials — is teaching scientists how they might create machines that land like a bird.

(Researchers study birds to improve how robots land, National Science Foundation)

Confirmation of a successful touchdown is not the end of the challenges of landing on the Red Planet.

(NASA InSight Lander Arrives on Martian Surface, NASA)