▸ fall off
1 PHRASAL VERB If something falls off , it separates from the thing to which it was attached and moves towards the ground. □ [V P ] When your exhaust falls off, you have to replace it.
2 PHRASAL VERB If the degree, amount, or size of something falls off , it decreases. □ [V P ] Unemployment is rising again and retail buying has fallen off.
3 → see also falling-off
▸ fall on PHRASAL VERB If you fall on something when it arrives or appears, you eagerly seize it or welcome it. □ [V P n] They fell on the sandwiches with alacrity.
▸ fall out
1 PHRASAL VERB If something such as a person's hair or a tooth falls out , it comes out. □ [V P ] Her hair started falling out as a result of radiation treatment.
2 PHRASAL VERB If you fall out with someone, you have an argument and stop being friendly with them. You can also say that two people fall out . □ [V P + with ] She fell out with her sister. □ [V P ] Mum and I used to fall out a lot.
3 → see also fallout
▸ fall over PHRASAL VERB If a person or object that is standing falls over , they accidentally move from their upright position so that they are then lying on the ground or on the surface supporting them. □ [V P ] I remember falling over in a playground when I was a child.
▸ fall through PHRASAL VERB If an arrangement, plan, or deal falls through , it fails to happen. □ [V P ] They wanted to turn the estate into a private golf course, but the deal fell through.
▸ fall to
1 PHRASAL VERB If a responsibility, duty, or opportunity falls to someone, it becomes their responsibility, duty, or opportunity. □ [V P n] He's been very unlucky that no chances have fallen to him. □ [V P n to-inf] It fell to me to get rid of them.
2 PHRASAL VERB If someone falls to doing something, they start doing it. [WRITTEN ] □ [V P v-ing] When she had departed, they fell to fighting among themselves. USAGE fall
Fall
is an intransitive verb. You can’t say that someone ‘falls’ something. Don’t say, for example, ‘
1
drop: He felt hot tears dropping onto his fingers.
plunge: At least 50 people died when a bus plunged into a river.
plummet: The jet burst into flames and plummeted to the ground.
collapse: The roof collapsed in a roar of rock and rubble.
tumble: A small boy tumbled off a third floor fire escape.
6
decrease: Population growth is decreasing by 1.4% each year.
decline: The number of staff has declined from 217,000 to 114,000.
go down: Income from sales tax went down.
slump: Net profits slumped by 41%.
fal|la|cious /fəle I ʃəs/ ADJ If an idea, argument, or reason is fallacious , it is wrong because it is based on a fallacy. [FORMAL ] □ Their main argument is fallacious.
fal|la|cy /fæ ləsi/ (fallacies ) N‑VAR [oft N that] A fallacy is an idea which many people believe to be true, but which is in fact false because it is based on incorrect information or reasoning. □ It's a fallacy that the affluent give relatively more to charity than the less prosperous. [Also + of ]
fall|back /fɔː lbæk/ ADJ [ADJ n] Someone's fallback position is what they will do if their plans do not succeed, or if something unexpected happens. [JOURNALISM ] □ Yesterday's vote itself was a retreat from an earlier fallback position.
fall|en /fɔː lən/
1 Fallen is the past participle of fall .
2 N‑PLURAL The fallen are soldiers who have died in battle. [LITERARY ] □ Work began on establishing the cemeteries as permanent memorials to the fallen.
3 → see also fall
fa ll guy (fall guys ) N‑COUNT If someone is the fall guy , they are blamed for something which they did not do or which is not their fault. [INFORMAL ] □ He claims he was made the fall guy for the affair.
fal|lible /fæ l I b ə l/ ADJ If you say that someone or something is fallible , you mean that they are not perfect and are likely to make mistakes or to fail in what they are doing. [FORMAL ] □ They are only human and all too fallible. ● fal|libil|ity /fæ l I b I l I ti/ N‑UNCOUNT □ Errors may have been made due to human fallibility.
fa lling-o ff N‑SING If there is a falling-off of an activity, there is a decrease in its amount or intensity. □ [+ of/in ] There has been a falling-off in box office income and other earnings.
fal|lo|pian tube /fəloʊ piən tjuː b, [AM ] - tuː b/ (fallopian tubes ) N‑COUNT A woman's fallopian tubes are the two tubes in her body along which eggs pass from her ovaries to her womb.
fall|out /fɔː laʊt/
1 N‑UNCOUNT Fallout is the radiation that affects a particular place or area after a nuclear explosion has taken place. □ They were exposed to radioactive fallout during nuclear weapons tests.
2 N‑UNCOUNT If you refer to the fallout from something that has happened, you mean the unpleasant consequences that follow it. □ [+ from ] Grundy lost his job in the fallout from the incident.