Word.ws English Dictionary

fallen flat on one's face

fallen flat on one's face is the past participle of fall flat on one's face.

Meaning of fall flat on one's face

Verb

fall flat on one's face (third-person singular simple present falls flat on one's face, present participle falling flat on one's face, simple past fell flat on one's face, past participle fallen flat on one's face)

  1. (literally) To fall headlong forwards, notionally hitting one's face on the ground.
    • I tripped over my shoelace and fell flat on my face.
  2. (figuratively) To fail miserably, especially in an obvious or embarrassing way.
    • He tried to start his own business but fell flat on his face.

Questions about fallen flat on one's face

What is fallen flat on one's face the past participle of?
Fallen flat on one's face is the past participle of fall flat on one's face.

Words near fallen flat on one's face in the dictionary

  1. fallen by the wayside
  2. fallen down
  3. fallen down on
  4. fallen due
  5. fallen flat
  6. fallen flat on one's face
  7. fallen for
  8. fallen foul
  9. fallen from grace
  10. fallen ill
  11. fallen in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fallen flat on one's face (page history and authors); fall flat on one's face (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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Cite this entry: “fallen flat on one's face.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fallen_flat_on_one%27s_face. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.