Definition

1. Intransitive Verb:
   • To move from a higher to a lower position; to descend: The primary meaning is to move downwards.
   • To decrease in level, amount, or intensity: To become less or lower.
   • To set below the horizon (of a celestial body): To disappear from view as it moves lower in the sky.
   • To be swallowed or ingested: To pass from the mouth into the stomach.
   • To be defeated or to fail: To lose a contest or cease functioning.
   • To be recorded or remembered in a particular way: To be entered into records or history with a specific reputation.

Usage Examples

• Intransitive Verb:
  • The elevator will go down to the basement. (It will descend to the lower level.)
  • Prices are expected to go down next month. (They are expected to decrease.)
  • We watched the sun go down over the ocean. (We watched it set.)
  • This medicine is bitter but it goes down quickly with water. (It is swallowed.)
  • Our team went down in the final match. (Our team was defeated.)
  • She will go down in history as a great leader. (She will be remembered that way.)

Advanced Usage

• "go down well/badly (with someone)": To be received favorably or unfavorably by an audience or group.
  • His proposal did not go down well with the committee. (It was not received favorably.)
• "go down with (an illness)": To become ill with a specific sickness.
  • Half the office went down with the flu. (They became sick with the flu.)
• "go down fighting": To continue resisting or competing until the very end, even in defeat.
  • The team went down fighting, losing by only one point. (They competed fiercely until the end.)

Variants and Related Words

• Downgoing (n, rare): The act of going down.
• Downgrade (v): To reduce to a lower rank or level. (This is a related but distinct word.)
• Descent (n): The act of moving downward. (A synonym for the of going down.)

Synonyms

• Descend: To move or fall downward.
• Decrease: To become smaller or fewer.
• Set: To disappear below the horizon (for the sun/moon).
• Sink: To descend, especially below a surface or to a lower level.
• Fail: To be unsuccessful.
• Be recorded: To be written down or registered.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Go down as: To be remembered or recorded in a specific manner.
  • He will go down as one of the finest athletes of his generation.
• Go down on (someone) (slang): To perform oral sex. (This is an idiomatic, slang usage.)

Related Idioms

• Go down the drain: To be wasted or lost.
  • All our hard work went down the drain when the project was canceled.
• Go down a storm: To be extremely successful and popular.
  • Her speech went down a storm with the audience.
• What goes up must come down: A proverb meaning that things that rise or become successful will eventually fall or decline.

Verb

1. stop operating
   • My computer crashed last night
   • The system goes down at least once a week
2. disappear beyond the horizon
   • the sun sets early these days
3. be defeated
   • If America goes down, the free world will go down, too
4. be ingested
   • This wine sure goes down well
   • The food wouldn't go down
5. be recorded or remembered
   • She will go down as the first feminist
6. grow smaller
   • Interest in the project waned
7. go under, "The raft sank and its occupants drowned"
8. move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
   • The temperature is going down
   • The barometer is falling
   • The curtain fell on the diva
   • Her hand went up and then fell again