Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use countdown in a sentence

13 example sentences · noun, verb

Countdown means a count backward in fixed units to the time of some event, especially the launch of a space vehicle. Example: “We spent New Year's Eve eating sweets, drinking champagne, and watching the countdown!”

Examples of countdown by meaning

verbTo count down.

  • This was accomplished in the old system by polling a software variable representing the number of prebleach bin and issuing a software command to trigger the AOM once the variable has countdowned to zero.1994, Yifeng Yuan, Polarized fluorescence photobleaching for measuring fast rotational motion of cell surface receptors
  • Time measures itself out in a series of diminishing peristaltic ticks, countdowning slowly towards the miracle of Ignition.2000, Stephen Mark Cox, Cluck
  • Whole families stood gawking at the massive statue, countdowning the five remaining minutes to the big one.2003, Edward Stone Cohen, Firewater, →ISBN, page 129

More sentences with countdown

  • We spent New Year's Eve eating sweets, drinking champagne, and watching the countdown!From the entry New Year's Eve
  • Now, it’s an electronic process and an atomic clock in Colorado controls the countdown.2025, “How Do They Build the New Year’s Ball Drop”, in J-Tech, archived from the original on 18 Jun 2025. From the entry ball drop
  • The other day, while at a craps table at Argosy, I saw a 12-11-10 countdown.2005, R. D. Ellison, Gamble to Win Advanced Craps, Lyle Stuart, Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN, page 109. From the entry stickwoman
  • The "hold" in the countdown of a rocket firing has a long and infamous history.1973 May 13, Emsley Armfield, “Picture this … a countdown stops”, in Brevard Sentinel: An Edition of the Orlando Sentinel Star, Orlando…. From the entry steely-eyed missile man
  • Following Back to the Future Day on October 21, the countdown to Halloween has well and truly begun.2016 October 15, “Last Minute 'Back To The Future' Halloween Costumes That You Can Throw Together Tonight”, in Bustle. From the entry Back to the Future Day
  • How would the intro to your Christmas countdown look?2016, Vlog It!: The Yearbook, Scholastic Children’s Books, →ISBN. From the entry Vlogmas
  • The number two oxygen tank in the Service Module could not be detanked properly after the countdown demonstration test.1970, Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Symposium Proceedings, volumes 14-15, page 127. From the entry detank
  • And, on the countdown to Christmas, the couple go one step further – recording a video every single day in December, as part of ‘Vlogmas’.2022 November 1, “Nadia Sawalha and Mark Adderley”, in Best. From the entry Vlogmas
  • Alan Shepard, the first American in space, famously relieved himself inside his silver pressure suit while waiting out the countdown in his tiny Mercury capsule.2011 April 12, Jeffrey Kluger, “Gagarin's Golden Anniversary”, in Time, retrieved 03 May 2014. From the entry pressure suit
  • The expression "You've missed the boat" was replaced by "That train has left the station" and will one day be replaced by "That space shuttle has already started the countdown".1981 March 22, William Safire, “On Language: Do you speak ASPIC?”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 24 May 2015…. From the entry that train has left the station

Meaning of countdown

  1. noun A count backward in fixed units to the time of some event, especially the launch of a space vehicle.
  2. noun The acts of preparation carried out during this period.
  3. noun A radio or television program counting down the top songs of a given week, usually in reverse order and ending with the number one song.

Full definition of countdown

Questions about countdown in a sentence

How do you use countdown in a sentence?
Countdown is used as a noun and verb. For example: “We spent New Year's Eve eating sweets, drinking champagne, and watching the countdown!”
What is a short sentence with countdown?
“How would the intro to your Christmas countdown look?”
What does countdown mean?
Countdown means a count backward in fixed units to the time of some event, especially the launch of a space vehicle.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: countdown (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use countdown in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/countdown. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.