downer
UK/ˈdaʊnə/US/ˈdaʊnɚ/
downer noun: a negative drug trip.
Noun (1)
downer (plural downers)
- A negative drug trip.
- Normally those pills give me a boost, but last night they gave me a downer.
- Any drug that has depressant qualities.
- Eye Girl is very moody. She is always zooted up on some really foul combination of uppers and downers and Rollerblading. Her bouts of Rollerblading seem to coincide with fights with Eye Guy.1997, Maggie Estep, Diary of an Emotional Idiot: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harmony Books, →ISBN, page 6
- Say, for example, a person starts with the use of a downer that reduces any anxiety and produces a sense of relaxation. When their energy levels drop, they take a stimulant in order to continue participating in the party or another event. This creates a cycle that could lead to significant drug use...2024 April 10 [2020 August 27], Nick B., “Which Drugs Are Uppers And Downers?”, in The Freedom Center, archived from the original on 21 Feb 2025
- Antonyms:
- upper
- Something or someone disagreeable, dispiriting or depressing; a killjoy.
- You don't really need to know me. I'm kind of a downer.2009, Spike Jonze, Where the Wild Things Are
- Geffen had never understood why such a downer of a film was being released over the holidays.2010, Nicole LaPorte, The Men Who Would Be King
- Synonyms:
- buzzkill
- A livestock animal that has collapsed.
- The ten-dollar bill was for eating money and the prod pole to be used when the train stopped for water in getting "downers" back on their feet.1964, John Hendrix, If I Can Do It Horseback: A Cow-Country Sketchbook, page 40
- In 1993, Farm Sanctuary produced undercover footage of downers being lifted by forklift at Hallmark, prompting introduction of a California downer cattle law the next year. Either management provided instructions to get the downers moving or was asleep at the wheel and let employees run wild — in...2009, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, Hallmark/Westland Meat Recall
- A form of industrial action in which workers down tools and refuse to work.
- In the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey, a strike may be a downer or a stoppage as defined by the Department.1978, C. T. B. Smith, Great Britain. Dept. of Employment, Manpower Papers (issue 15, page 158)
- Cowley experienced a rash of 'downers' — short, sharp, unofficial strikes.1985, Alex Callinicos, Mike Simons, The Great Strike: The Miners' Strike of 1984-5 and Its Lessons
Noun (2)
downer (plural downers)
- A sixpence.
- The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence.1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant, page 90
Proper noun capitalized: Downer
Downer
- A surname.
- A suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, named after John Downer.
- An unincorporated community in Clay County, Minnesota, United States.
downer meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Gujarati
downer in Hindi
- डाउनर
downer in Marathi
- खाली उतरणारा, डाउनर
downer in Bengali
- ডাউনার
downer in Gujarati
- ડાઉનર
More languagesFewer languages
- downer in Odia
- ଡାଉନର୍
- downer in Nepali
- डाउनर, डाउनार
Examples of downer in a sentence
- Say, for example, a person starts with the use of a downer that reduces any anxiety and produces a sense of relaxation.2024 April 10 [2020 August 27], Nick B., “Which Drugs Are Uppers And Downers?”, in The Freedom Center, archived from the original on 21 Feb...
- In 1993, Farm Sanctuary produced undercover footage of downers being lifted by forklift at Hallmark, prompting introduction of a California downer cattle law the next year.2009, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug...
- The two plants where I saw great reductions in downers have reduced, but not eliminated Paylean use.2009, Meat & Poultry - Volume 55, Issues 7-12, page lxxii:
Synonyms of downer
Antonyms
Forms of downer
| plural | downers |
|---|
Origin of downer
From down + -er.
Perhaps related to tanner (“sixpence”).
Words formed from downer
Words that rhyme with downer
Questions about downer
- What does downer mean?
- Downer means a negative drug trip.
- What is downer in Hindi?
- Downer in Hindi is डाउनर. See Downer meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use downer in a sentence?
- Say, for example, a person starts with the use of a downer that reduces any anxiety and produces a sense of relaxation.
- What part of speech is downer?
- Downer can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce downer?
- Downer is pronounced /ˈdaʊnə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of downer?
- The plural of downer is downers.
Words near downer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: downer (page history and authors); Downer (page history and authors); downer (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); downer (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); downer (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); downer (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); downer (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); downer (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: En-au-downer.ogg.
Cite this entry: “downer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/downer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.