fall away
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb (intransitive):
- To diminish in size, amount, or intensity: To gradually become smaller, fewer, or weaker.
- To decline in quality or condition; to get worse: To deteriorate or become less effective.
Usage and Examples
Diminish in size or intensity:
- The sound of the engine fell away as the car disappeared down the road.
- Public interest in the story began to fall away after a few weeks.
Get worse; decline:
- His commitment to the project seems to be falling away.
- If your performance falls away, you risk losing your position on the team.
Advanced Usage
- "to fall away from something": To gradually stop supporting, believing in, or being involved with something.
- Many supporters fell away from the movement when its goals changed.
- Used to describe physical erosion or collapse.
- The cliff edge is dangerous where the rock has fallen away.
Variants and Related Words
- Fall off (phrasal verb): Very similar in meaning, often used interchangeably with "fall away" in the context of decline or reduction.
- Sales have fallen off this quarter.
- Drop away (phrasal verb): Can be synonymous, especially for describing a steep decline or a surface dropping steeply.
- The ground drops away suddenly at the edge of the canyon.
Synonyms
- Decrease: To become smaller or fewer.
- Decline: To become weaker, smaller, or worse.
- Dwindle: To diminish gradually in size, amount, or strength.
- Slacken: To reduce or become less intense.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Fall back: To move back; to retreat.
- Fall behind: To fail to keep up with a pace or standard.
- Fall out: To argue and stop being friendly; to happen as a result.
Related Idioms
- To fall by the wayside: To fail to continue, to be abandoned. This idiom shares the concept of gradual decline or dropping out.
- Many New Year's resolutions fall by the wayside by February.
Verb
- diminish in size or intensity
- get worse
- My grades are slipping