face down
adjective or adverb
variants
or less commonly face-down
or facedown
: with the face down
He was face down on the bed. = He was lying face down on the bed.
Two cards are dealt face down to each player, then the first round of bets is made.—Thomas L. Clark
… she walked past us to the lab area, placed the paper face down on the table and looked back at us.—David Kwiatkowski
… stood up so fast he knocked his plate of waffles facedown onto the floor.—Ingrid Law
—usually hyphenated before a noun… an alternate paper path has been added to turn out face-down copies in proper order, so they don't have to be collated manually.—William J. Lynott
Cite this Entry
“Face down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/face%20down. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.
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