Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use downfall in a sentence

29 example sentences · noun, verb

Downfall means a precipitous decline in fortune; death or rapid deterioration, as in status or wealth. Example: “Many economic and political reasons led to the downfall of the Roman Empire.”

Examples of downfall by meaning

nounA precipitous decline in fortune; death or rapid deterioration, as in status or wealth.

  • Many economic and political reasons led to the downfall of the Roman Empire.

nounAn act of falling down.

  • a downfall of rain

verbTo fall down; deteriorate; decline.

  • Common belief has been that in the future the number of middle managers will downfall due to empowerment and team-building.1998, Peter Vink, Ernst A. P. Koningsveld, Steven Dhondt, Human factors in organizational design and management-VI
  • It should be noted that the magnitude of satellites decreases when tuning out of degeneracy, and in the wavelength range of 1.2-1.3 pm it downfalls to the value of 10-15% of the main spike magnitude.1998, Lithuanian physics journal

More sentences with downfall

  • The downfall of the chairman is an obsession that consumes Laura's time.From the entry obsession
  • The company's full speed ahead approach to product development would ultimately be its downfall.From the entry full speed ahead
  • Through subtle manipulations he orchestrated the downfall of his rival.From the entry manipulation
  • My presagings of his downfall soon proved accurate.From the entry presaging
  • Palantir will be able to identify people who are antiseptic and the downfall will happen for them.2025 August 26, u/[deleted], r/conspiracy (Reddit post), archived from the original on 01 May 2026. From the entry antiseptic
  • The only downfall of StudyTube is that it can lead to what feels like productive procrastination.2019 October 8, Ellie Robson, “The great rise of ‘studytube’”, in Concrete, number 367, University of East Anglia, page 11. From the entry StudyTube
  • Now, I'm no Alibi Ike, Teddy, but I think that was my downfall.2010, Frank Deford, Bliss, Remembered: A Novel, →ISBN. From the entry Alibi Ike
  • Many fans say that season 5 was the beginning of its downfall as Flanderization occurred.2009 June 7, tmc1982 [username], “Seasonal Rot – Television Tropes & Idioms”, in rec.arts.tv (Usenet). From the entry flanderization
  • Even humility and self-abnegation, however abject, were not enough to prevent one’s downfall.2006, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, chapter 8, in Wizard of the Crow, New York: Pantheon, page 231. From the entry self-abnegation
  • The roofer stayed in touch, committed to the downfall of his nemesis, Mikey.2001 June 1, Mark Hunter, The Powder, Their Paper and Pools of Blood, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 186. From the entry nemesis
  • With the downfall of the samurai, for instance, swords as works of art went out of existence.1933 January, Lillian Dow Davidson, “Japan Faces the Rising Sun”, in The Rotarian, volume 42, number 1, Chicago: Rotary International…. From the entry sagemono
  • And, of course, Elizabeth Holmes, whose spectacular downfall may just prove to be the final nail in the coffin of girlbossdom.2021 December 21, Cornelia Channing, “Should you aspire to be a girlboss?”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 11 Aug 2022. From the entry girlbossdom
  • The New Day's downfall was a combination of bad storytelling and an ill-advised gimmick in a cynical era.2015 April 4, Alfred Conua, “Examining Why New Day Failed as a Babyface Stable”, in Bleacher Report. From the entry the darkest hour is just before the dawn
  • Three major problems led to Citigroup’s downfall: bad investment policy; overexpansion, which overwhelmed Citigroup’s management; and an inadequate capital base.2009 January 21, “Questions for Mr. Geithner”, in New York Times. From the entry overexpansion
  • There is one fashion item, however, that has the opposite effect and could cause a relationship’s downfall — at least according to TikTok.2023 March 16, Alyssa Lapid, “Everything To Know About The “Shoe Theory” Going Viral On TikTok”, in Bustle. From the entry fyp
  • The far-away House Targaryen and its handful of dragons survived the cataclysmic event and rose to power after the downfall of the Valyrians.2022 August 28, Lorraine Ali, “‘House of the Dragon’ recap: The girl who would be king”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los…. From the entry Valyrian
  • The downfall of Austria’s onetime political Wunderkind put a spotlight on the cozy, sometimes corrupt, relationship between right-wing populists and parts of the news media.2021 October 17, Katrin Bennhold, “Fake Polls and Tabloid Coverage on Demand: The Dark Side of Sebastian Kurz”, in The New York Times…. From the entry wunderkind
  • Get up, look sickening, and make them eat it!” Translation: rise above your downfalls in life, and always look amazing while dismissing the haters.2016, Juackie Huba, Shelly Stewart Kronbergs, Fiercely You: Be Fabulous and Confident by Thinking Like a Drag Queen, Berret-Koehler, →ISBN. From the entry sickening
  • In both cases, the seeming downfall of 'England' as the hegemonic power was given as the pretext for a new transcolonial model of the Empire.2006, Kaori Nagai, Empire of Analogies: Kipling, India and Ireland. From the entry transcolonial
  • A few of these men were of unblemished character, but most of them encouraged the progress of corruption and aided the downfall of Rome.1924, Charles H[erbert] Sylvester, “The History of Rome”, in The Writings of Mankind: […] Twenty Volumes, volume V (Greece·Latin), Kansas…. From the entry barracks emperor
  • "We won't let the downfall of any one person make us lower our guard or slacken the level of war preparedness we should maintain," he added.2026 January 26, Ben Blanchard, Roger Tung, quoting Wellington Koo, “Taiwan monitoring 'abnormal' China military leadership changes after…. From the entry preparedness
  • The downfall of Hindu royal dominance shifted the centre of gravity of Maithili literary activity to Nepal, where the courts had come to patronize Maithila culture.2013, Sanjukta Gupta, The Cosmic Play of Power: Goddess, Tantra and Women, Motilal Banarsidass, →ISBN, page 365. From the entry Maithila
  • The highly anticipated proceedings are poised to serve as a tell-all on FTX and Alameda’s shocking downfall, with jurors weighing whether Bankman-Fried callously lined his pockets with hapless investors’ money.2023 September 30, Victoria Bekiempis, “‘Dark’ donations, free love and the fall: the Sam Bankman-Fried trial is here”, in The Guardian…. From the entry tell-all
  • The episode of the sun-god's island is the Odyssey's equivalent of Chekhov's gun, announced in the poem's earliest lines as the occasion of the companions' downfall and anticipated ever since.2005, John Miles Foley, A companion to ancient epic, →ISBN, page 324. From the entry Chekhov's gun
  • It was generally added, as a rider to this, that although Marxism was scientifically true it was bound to be resisted by the possessing classes, as it prophesied their downfall.1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford…. From the entry rider

Meaning of downfall

  1. noun A precipitous decline in fortune; death or rapid deterioration, as in status or wealth.
  2. noun The cause of such a fall; a critical blow or error.
  3. noun An act of falling down.

Full definition of downfall

Questions about downfall in a sentence

How do you use downfall in a sentence?
Downfall is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Many economic and political reasons led to the downfall of the Roman Empire.”
What is a short sentence with downfall?
“a downfall of rain”
What does downfall mean?
Downfall means a precipitous decline in fortune; death or rapid deterioration, as in status or wealth.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: downfall (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 downfall in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/downfall. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.