falling
UK/ˈfɔːlɪŋ/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northumbria/ˈfaːlɪn/
falling is the present participle and gerund of fall.
falling is the verbal noun of fall.
Meaning of fall
Verb
fall (third-person singular simple present falls, present participle falling, simple past fell, past participle fallen)
- To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
- Thrown from a cliff, the stone fell 100 feet before hitting the ground.
- To come down, to drop or descend.
- The rain fell at dawn.
- Synonyms:
- come down, descend, drop, cut down, fell, knock down, knock over, strike down
- To come as if by dropping down.
- Once or twice a noise fell upon his quick ear, and we halted, he standing revolver in hand in an attitude of defense. Each time, however, we ascertained that we had no occasion for alarm, the noise being made by some animal or bird ...1898, William Le Queux, Whoso Findeth a Wife, page 256
- To come to the ground deliberately, to prostrate oneself.
- He fell to the floor and begged for mercy.
- Synonyms:
- drop, lower oneself, prostrate oneself
- To be brought to the ground.
- To let fall; to drop.
- For every tear he falls, a Trojan bleeds.1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC
Forms of falling
| plural | fallings |
|---|
Words formed from falling
- deviation of a falling body
- everfalling
- falling action
- falling band
- falling collar
- falling diphthong
- falling-disease
- falling-door
- falling dunes
- falling-evil
- falling factorial
- falling film evaporator
- falling front or back
- falling-gate
- falling-hinge
- falling houses
- falling-ill
- falling-in
- falling knife
- falling leaf
- falling limb
- fallingly
- falling-mold
- falling number
- falling palate
- falling rhythm
- falling-rising
- falling ruff
- falling scream
- falling sequential product
- falling-sluice
- falling sphere
- falling star
- falling stone
- falling tide
- falling tone
- falling weight deflectometer
- in-falling
- rising-falling
- shortfalling
- tear-falling
- unfalling
- wall-falling
- falling asleep
- falling axe
- falling of the leaf
- falling of the womb
- falling rope
- falling saw
- falling-short
- falling wedge
- infalling
- intelligent falling
- off-falling
- outfalling
- downfalling
- falling-off
- falling sickness
- falling weather
Phrases with falling
- falling by
- falling in
- falling on
- falling to
- falling up
- falling due
- falling for
- falling ill
- falling off
- falling out
- falling away
- falling back
88 more phrasesFewer phrases
- falling down
- falling flat
- falling foul
- falling into
- falling outs
- falling over
- falling prey
- falling sick
- falling upon
- falling about
- falling among
- falling apart
- falling below
- falling block
- falling short
- falling stars
- falling tones
- falling under
- falling around
- falling behind
- falling blocks
- falling knives
- falling leaves
- falling silent
- falling victim
- Falling Waters
- falling actions
- falling back on
- falling collars
- falling down on
- falling in line
- falling in love
- falling in lust
- falling in with
- falling through
- falling out upon
- falling pregnant
- falling together
- falling back into
- falling back upon
- falling to pieces
- falling diphthongs
- falling from grace
- falling into place
- falling into a trap
- falling off a cliff
- falling off a truck
- falling out of love
- falling into oneself
- falling off the bone
- falling off the twig
- falling on a grenade
- falling on deaf ears
- falling out of favor
- falling over oneself
- catch a falling knife
- falling off the radar
- falling off the wagon
- falling on hard times
- falling on one's face
- falling to the ground
- caught a falling knife
- falling by the wayside
- falling into one's lap
- falling on one's sword
- falling to one's knees
- like falling off a log
- catches a falling knife
- catching a falling knife
- easy as falling off a log
- falling off the ugly tree
- falling on someone's neck
- falling asleep in the Lord
- falling at the last hurdle
- falling between the cracks
- falling between two stools
- falling flat on one's face
- falling through the cracks
- falling at the final hurdle
- falling into someone's hands
- falling into the wrong hands
- falling off the turnip truck
- easier than falling off a log
- almost falling off one's chair
- nearly falling off one's chair
- falling off the back of a lorry
- falling off the back of a truck
- falling out of the ugly tree and hitting every branch
Words that rhyme with falling
Questions about falling
- What is falling the present participle and gerund of?
- Falling is the present participle and gerund of fall.
- How do you pronounce falling?
- Falling is pronounced /ˈfɔːlɪŋ/ (UK).
Words near falling in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: falling (page history and authors); fall (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: en-us-falling.ogg.
Cite this entry: “falling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/falling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.