Word.ws English Dictionary

downdrift

downdrift noun: a lowering (over time) of the pitch of the tones of a tonal language.

Noun

downdrift (plural downdrifts)

  1. A lowering (over time) of the pitch of the tones of a tonal language.

Adverb

downdrift (not comparable)

  1. On the downward side of a drift.
    • A groyne promotes the build-up of sediment on its updrift side, and reduces erosion on the downdrift side.

Forms of downdrift

pluraldowndrifts

Origin of downdrift

From down- + drift.

Questions about downdrift

What does downdrift mean?
Downdrift means a lowering (over time) of the pitch of the tones of a tonal language.
What part of speech is downdrift?
Downdrift can be a noun or an adverb.
What is the plural of downdrift?
The plural of downdrift is downdrifts.

Words near downdrift in the dictionary

  1. downdraw
  2. downdrawing
  3. downdrawn
  4. downdraws
  5. downdrew
  6. downdrift
  7. downdrifts
  8. downdrins
  9. downe
  10. Downeaster
  11. Downeasters

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: downdrift (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-downdrift.wav.

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