Word.ws English Dictionary

throw-down

throw-down is the alternative spelling of throwdown.

Meaning of throwdown

Noun

throwdown (plural throwdowns)

  1. (slang) A fall, indicating defeat.
  2. (rare, slang) A weapon planted at a crime scene in order to mislead investigation, especially in situations where deadly force would only have been justified if the victim were armed. Also an untraceable weapon kept in readiness for such use.
    • The inquiry also found evidence some Australian troops in Afghanistan carried "throwdowns" — such as weapons, radios and grenades not issued by the ADF — which would be planted next to the bodies of Afghan civilians to suggest they were a "legitimate target" in any post-incident investigations.2020 November 19, Matthew Doran, “Afghanistan war crimes report released by Defence Chief Angus Campbell includes evidence of 39 murders by special forces”, in ABC News, Australian Broadcasting...
  3. (slang) A slam dunk.
  4. (slang) A fight or brawl; or, a challenge or incitement to fight.
  5. (slang) A performance by a rapper or DJ that is intended to be particularly hardcore or intense.
    • a hip-hop throwdown
  6. (slang, hardcore punk music) A type of hardcore dance in which a person violently clears a space for himself and appears to be ready to fight those around him, while making violent and erratic movements with his body.

See all 8 meanings of throwdown

Forms of throw-down

pluralthrow-downs

Origin of throw-down

Deverbal from throw down; for more, see throwdown § Etymology.

Questions about throw-down

What is throw-down the alternative spelling of?
Throw-down is the alternative spelling of throwdown.

Words near throw-down in the dictionary

  1. throw-backs
  2. throw-board
  3. throw-boards
  4. throw-crook
  5. throw-crooks
  6. throw-down
  7. throw-downs
  8. throw-in
  9. throw-ins
  10. throw-off
  11. throw-offs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: throw-down (page history and authors); throwdown (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-au-throw-down.ogg.

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