Word.ws English Dictionary

downfallen

downfallen adjective: fallen down. Also the past participle of downfall.

Adjective

downfallen

  1. Fallen down.
  2. (figuratively) Having undergone a defeat, or been ousted from a position of authority.
    • But one or two, who nourished in their bosoms respect for the downfallen hierarchy—casting first a timorous glance around, to see that no one observed them—hastily crossed themselves—bent their knee to sister Magdalen, by which name they saluted her—kissed her hand, or even the hem of her...1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XIII, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and...
  3. Crestfallen, depressed, down in the dumps.

Also used as

downfallen is also the past participle of downfall.

Origin of downfallen

From downfall (“to fall down, decline”).

Questions about downfallen

What does downfallen mean?
Downfallen means fallen down.
What part of speech is downfallen?
Downfallen is an adjective.

Words near downfallen in the dictionary

  1. downfaced
  2. downfaces
  3. downfacing
  4. downfal
  5. downfall
  6. downfallen
  7. downfalling
  8. downfallings
  9. downfalls
  10. downfals
  11. downfault

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: downfallen (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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