Word.ws English Dictionary

pushdown

pushdown adjective: describing a stack in which items are removed in a LIFO manner from the end at which they were added.

Adjective (1)

pushdown (not comparable)

  1. Describing a stack in which items are removed in a LIFO manner from the end at which they were added.

Noun (1)

pushdown (countable and uncountable, plural pushdowns)

  1. (countable) A pushdown automaton.
    • Since indexed grammars are context-free grammars with pushdowns, the generalization of Thatcher's result shows that they generate the yields of the tree languages recognized by deterministic pushdown tree automata.2003, Wilfried Brauer, Hartmut Ehrig, Juhani Karhumäki, Formal and Natural Computing: Essays
  2. The relegation of the transformation or processing of data to the originating datasource.
    • filter pushdown
    • predicate pushdown

Noun (2)

pushdown (plural pushdowns)

  1. An exercise that requires one to push weight downward.
    • Machine exercises with weight stacks, like pushdowns or pulldowns, are ideal for cranking out more than three drops because all you need to do is insert the pin in a higher (lighter) slot each time.(Can we date this quote?), Greg Merritt, “Go Beyond Failure with Dropsets”, in Muscle & Fitness

Adjective (2)

pushdown (not comparable)

  1. Used by being pushed down.
    • [T]he unfortunate few who suffer from it [ejaculatory anhedonia] are incapable of deriving any pleasure whatsoever from orgasms. They make a bit of mess while staring impassively into the middle distance, and that's it. Like the human equivalent of a pushdown soap-dispenser.2008 September 1, Charlie Brooker, “I am increasingly concerned that at the centre of my soul lurks a terrifying blankness. Any suggestions?”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London...
    • The containers we always use for those are the OXO ones that have the pushdown button, so I think it probably does stay fresher than flour in a paper bag, and in that way, it works.2018 March 19, Maxine Builder, “How to Organize Your Kitchen and Pantry, According to Professional Organizers”, in The Strategist, New York, N.Y.: New York Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...

Forms of pushdown

pluralpushdowns

Origin of pushdown

From push + down; by analogy with a spring-loaded stack of plates in a cafeteria.

Deverbal from push down.

Phrases with pushdown

Questions about pushdown

What does pushdown mean?
Pushdown means describing a stack in which items are removed in a LIFO manner from the end at which they were added.
What part of speech is pushdown?
Pushdown can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near pushdown in the dictionary

  1. pushcart
  2. pushcarts
  3. pushchair
  4. pushchairs
  5. pushcharovskite
  6. pushdown
  7. pushdown automata
  8. pushdown automaton
  9. pushdown automatons
  10. pushdowns
  11. pushead

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pushdown (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-pushdown.wav.

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