Word.ws English Dictionary

pratfall

pratfall noun: a fall onto the buttocks.

Noun

pratfall (plural pratfalls)

  1. A fall onto the buttocks.
  2. A humiliating mistake.
    Synonyms:
    blunder, howler
  3. A staged trip or fall, often for comedic purposes.
    • The motivational speaker started with a pratfall so he could speak about the importance of getting back up.

Verb

pratfall (third-person singular simple present pratfalls, present participle pratfalling, simple past pratfell, past participle pratfallen)

  1. To fall on to the buttocks.

Synonyms of pratfall

Forms of pratfall

Noun
pluralpratfalls
alternative formprat-fall
alternative formpratt-fall
Verb
third-person singular presentpratfalls
present participlepratfalling
pastpratfell
past participlepratfallen

Origin of pratfall

From prat + fall.

Words formed from pratfall

Phrases with pratfall

Questions about pratfall

What does pratfall mean?
Pratfall means a fall onto the buttocks.
What part of speech is pratfall?
Pratfall can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of pratfall?
The plural of pratfall is pratfalls.

Words near pratfall in the dictionary

  1. praters
  2. prates
  3. prateth
  4. pratey
  5. prateys
  6. pratfall
  7. pratfall effect
  8. pratfall effects
  9. pratfallen
  10. pratfalling
  11. pratfalls

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pratfall (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-pratfall.wav.

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