Word.ws English Dictionary

throw down

throw down verb: to cause something one is holding to drop, often forcefully.

Verb

throw down (third-person singular simple present throws down, present participle throwing down, simple past threw down, past participle thrown down)

  1. (transitive) To cause something one is holding to drop, often forcefully.
    • The soldiers threw down their weapons and surrendered.
  2. (dated, transitive) To destroy or demolish.
    • to throw down a tower
  3. (idiomatic, slang, transitive) To produce or perform (something) admirably or forcefully.
    • ...this guide tracks the artists and recordings that throw down the funk!2001, Dave Thompson, Funk, back cover
    • “Punch up the rhymes. Throw down some beats. Show off that body. You'll be unstoppable.”2004, Kylie Adams, Ex-Girlfriends, page 48
  4. (broadly, idiomatic, intransitive, slang) To accomplish or produce something in a grand, respectable, or successful manner; to "represent".
    • Yeah, they could literally throw down. When their sound came out, it was earth-shaking.1997, Richard C. Green, Soul: Black Power, Politics, and Pleasure, page 93
    • “You're performing for the who's who of radio and records at the Soul Train Awards tonight and you've got to throw down”.1998, Sheila Copeland, Chocolate Star, page 260
  5. (idiomatic, intransitive, slang) To drink a large amount quickly.
    • "We need to finish these five pitchers in half an hour, so throw down as fast as you can!"
  6. (idiomatic, intransitive, slang) To fight; to make a stand.
    • Age ain't nothin' but a number / Throwin' down ain't nothin' but a thing / This lovin' I have for you, it'll never change1994 December 6, R. Kelly, “Age Ain't Nothing but a Number”, in Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, performed by Aaliyah, track 4
    • Let's you and me 'throw down' right here, right now!2002, Lory Janelle Dance, Tough Fronts: The Impact of Street Culture on Schooling, page 60
  7. (idiomatic, intransitive, slang) To make an individual contribution to a group effort (e.g. money pool, collaborative record album).
    • "We're goin' in on a pizza; you in?" "Yeah, I'll throw down."

throw down meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Kannada and Sanskrit

throw down in Tamil

பாய்ச்சு, பொய், பொய்தல்

throw down in Marathi

to throw down, knock down
पाडणे pāḍṇe

throw down in Kannada

ಇಳಿವಾಯ್ಕು

throw down in Sanskrit

throw down, refuse
आक्षिपति ākṣipati
More languagesFewer languages
throw down in Sinhala
හෙළනවා heḷanawā

Examples of throw down in a sentence

  • When someone near me at a show called the band My Boring Racket, I was ready to throw down, but for the good sense of an accompanying female...2004, William Bowers, “I Think I'm Going to Hell”, in Da Capo Best Music Writing 2004, page 41:
  • Today's young and hip black male who fancies himself a radical, who is ready to throw down for the cause, is not talking about neo-colonialism, about global struggle.2004, bell hooks, We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity, page 59:
  • She said no words and was the first to throw down.2006, Erick S. Gray, Nasty Girls: An Urban Novel, page 32:
  • I wanna throw down, baby boy and baby girl.2006, Sherman D. Manning, Blue-Eyed Blonde, page 345:

Synonyms of throw down

Forms of throw down

third-person singular presentthrows down
present participlethrowing down
pastthrew down
past participlethrown down

Origin of throw down

US, popularized 1970s in street culture, from idiom throw down the gauntlet (“to issue a challenge”), used in sense “to fight, to incite a fight, to make a stand” or otherwise get about partying with abandon (first used by Jay Johnson in Detroit in 1978 - taken nationally by Cecil Franklin, manager/brother of Aretha Franklin). Sense of “accomplish something respectable” evolved from sense “to make a stand, to exhibit, to demonstrate (in a challenging way)” inherent in the fighting sense. Sense of “to make a contribution” likely influenced by sense “to make a stand”, as in “are you in?”, “will you stand up and contribute?”

Questions about throw down

What does throw down mean?
Throw down means to cause something one is holding to drop, often forcefully.
What is throw down in Tamil?
Throw down in Tamil is பாய்ச்சு, பொய், பொய்தல். See Throw down meaning in Tamil.
How do you use throw down in a sentence?
When someone near me at a show called the band My Boring Racket, I was ready to throw down, but for the good sense of an accompanying female...
What part of speech is throw down?
Throw down is a verb.
What is the past tense of throw down?
The past tense of throw down is threw down.

Words near throw down in the dictionary

  1. throw chunks
  2. throw cold water on
  3. throw dirt
  4. throw dirt enough, and some will stick
  5. throw dirt on
  6. throw down
  7. throw down one's tools
  8. throw down the gauntlet
  9. throw dust in someone's eyes
  10. throw enough mud at the wall and some of it will stick
  11. throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: throw down (page history and authors); throw down (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); पाडणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); throw down (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); आक्षिपति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); හෙළනවා (Sinhala) (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.

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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.