Word.ws English Dictionary

count down

count down is the alternative form of countdown.

Verb

count down (third-person singular simple present counts down, present participle counting down, simple past and past participle counted down)

  1. (transitive) To announce the passage of time to a precisely timed expected event.
    • The sound system counted down the seconds to meteor impact.
  2. (transitive) To await a precisely timed expected event.
    • The party was counting down the days to Inauguration.

Meaning of countdown

Noun

countdown (plural countdowns)

  1. A count backward in fixed units to the time of some event, especially the launch of a space vehicle.
  2. The acts of preparation carried out during this period.
  3. A radio or television program counting down the top songs of a given week, usually in reverse order and ending with the number one song.

See all 4 meanings of countdown

Forms of count down

Noun
pluralcount downs
Verb
third-person singular presentcounts down
present participlecounting down
past participlecounted down
pastcounted down

Questions about count down

What does count down mean?
Count down means to announce the passage of time to a precisely timed expected event.
What is count down the alternative form of?
Count down is the alternative form of countdown.
What part of speech is count down?
Count down is a verb.
What is the past tense of count down?
The past tense of count down is counted down.

Words near count down in the dictionary

  1. count cards
  2. count chickens
  3. count circle
  4. count circles
  5. count coup
  6. count down
  7. count downs
  8. Count Dracula
  9. count form
  10. count forms
  11. count in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: count down (page history and authors); countdown (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-count down.wav.

Cite this entry: “count down.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/count_down. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.