An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'go down', with lots of examples in context.
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs!
'Go down' is an English phrasal verb with a wide variety of different meanings and applications. In this post, I will explain to you the main meanings that it has, including when prices go down, when a computer goes down and when something goes down in history. In addition to this, I will also give you some other expressions and idioms that it features and, as always, a lot of examples in context to help your understanding. So, without further ado, let's make a start! Don't forget to leave a comment at the end! 😊
GO DOWN: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 8 |
Past tense forms | Went down / Gone down |
Separable? | No |
THE BASICS
Before looking at the meanings of any phrasal verb, I always think that it is worthwhile considering the individual words on their own as this can often help give some much needed logic to some of the more abstract phrasal verb meanings.
Let's begin then with our base verb 'to go', which is among the most frequently used English verbs and functions both as a main verb and an auxiliary verb when forming the future tense 'going to'. At its core, this verb is all about movement from one place to another, specifically when it is away from where the speaker is. This is something that certainly influences the phrasal verb meanings that we will look at shortly.
I am going to the cinema this evening.
She went to shop to buy some milk.
Next, we have the versatile prepositional particle 'down', which can be used as a preposition, adverb, adjective, verb and noun in English. It's primary meaning is to talk about movement towards a lower place or the state of being in a lower place than something else and this idea is often carried across to 'down' phrasal verbs. In addition to this principal meaning, 'down' can also convey the ideas of reduction, interruption and settling to phrasal verbs, among other ideas.
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'go down'....
MEANING 1: To move to a lower place or level
CEFR Language Level | A2 - Elementary |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To sink, to drop, to fall, to descend |
Potential antonyms | To go up, to rise, to ascend |
Let's start things off nice and easy with the literal meaning of the combination of the words 'go' and 'down', which is simply to move to a lower place or level.
This first meaning can be used for any movement from a higher place to a lower place and therefore has an enormous number and variety of applications in everyday English.
It is used purely to talk about the action of physically moving in a downwards direction when the method of movement e.g. walking, climbing, falling is not important. Remember here that this is used when the movement is in the direction away from where the speaker is. For direction towards where the speaker is, we use 'to come'.
I am just going down to reception on the ground floor to meet the visitors.
She went down the stairs and into the cellar to fetch some wood.
John has gone down to the village in the valley to buy some supplies.
In addition to the general idea of moving in a downwards direction, 'go down' is regularly heard with the following common nouns...
Sun - In the evening, when the sun is setting and moving towards the horizon before eventually disappearing, we say that it is going down.
My fiancé asked me to marry him on the beach as the sun was going down. It was so romantic!
We had to wait for the sun to go down before we could set off our fireworks.
Airplane - If an airplane, helicopter or other flying machine goes down, it means that it accidentally crash lands on the ground.
The helicopter went down at around 11am this morning and investigators have been trying to identify what happened ever since.
A small airplane has gone down between Longville and Smithston but luckily nobody on board was harmed.
Ship - Similar to an airplane, if we say that a ship, boat or other mode of water transport has gone down, it means that is has sunk.
The Titanic went down shortly after hitting an iceberg.
The captain refused to leave his beloved boat and he went down with his ship.
One other key usage of this first application that I want to to make you aware of is that 'go down' is also used as a synonym for the verb 'to swallow'. Quite literally, when we swallow something, it goes down from our mouths to our stomachs, so for once we have a rare logical usage for a phrasal verb!
Mmmmm that casserole went down really well. It was delicious!
I can never get tablets to go down and almost choke every time that I take one.
BONUS INFORMATION You should also be aware that 'go down' can often be used by native speakers to refer to a general movement from one place to another, without any particular slope, descent or downwards movement involved. This is mainly heard with the words 'road' or 'street' to talk about movement along it but it can also be used for movement from one place to another that is further south. Using 'go down' in this way will definitely help your English to sound native!
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MEANING 2: To be reduced
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To decrease, to reduce, to lower, to degrade |
Potential antonyms | To increase |
Nouns commonly used with | Price, rate, level, percentage, quality, condition, swelling |
Following on from our first meaning of 'go down', the second should be quite logical for you as it means 'to be reduced'.
Perhaps most commonly, this usage refers to numbers, prices and percentages and specifically when they become lower compared to what they were at an earlier time. 'Go down' tends to be used for these when there is no human intervention in the decrease or reduction in level and it happens naturally or organically.
The crime rate in New York has gone down by 10% over the last decade.
Following a government announcement, the wholesale price of gas has gone down, meaning that these reduced costs can be transferred to customers in the form of lower energy bills.
The number of people on the hospital waiting list is expected to go down over the next month.
Another noun that this second application of 'go down' is used with is 'quality'. When the condition or the quality of something is seen to be reduced or to be worse than it was previously, we can say that it has gone down. This can theoretically be used for anything that we can form a qualitative opinion on, i.e. how good or bad we think that something is. and typically you will hear native speakers using it to describe things like cities, places, restaurants and businesses.
I think that the standard of pop music has gone down over the past twenty years or so.
The quality of the food in the restaurant went down a lot when the new owners took over, so we stopped going there.
BONUS INFORMATION: GOING DOWNHILL In addition to saying that something has 'gone down' when the quality of it is not as good as before, there is also an idiomatic expression that is often used by native speakers to mean the same thing, particularly in British English and that is 'to go downhill'.
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One final noun that I want to include in this section is actually more to do with health than numbers or levels and is used specifically for swelling. Imagine that you fall over and hurt your ankle and over the next 24 hours it swells and grows in size. When it eventually starts to heal and become smaller again, we say that the swelling is going down.
The swelling should go down after a week or so but if it doesn't please come back and see me.
I was bitten by a mosquito on my eyelid. It swelled up to an enormous size and didn't go down again for days.
MEANING 3: To stop functioning temporarily
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper Intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To crash |
Nouns commonly used with | Computer, internet, phone line, network |
The third meaning of 'go down' is one that affects many of us more often than we would like and that is to stop functioning temporarily.
This usage is primarily used with equipment and services, particularly in the sphere of computers and IT where services are available for us to use all of the time. The idea behind this usage comes from the idea that when a service is running and in operation, we say that it is 'up' (or sometimes 'up and running). As 'up' is the natural opposite of 'down', if the computer or service stops working, then we can say that is goes down.
Lisa's computer went down whilst she was in the middle of writing an important report for work.
The internet went down at work yesterday, so we were all sent home as we had nothing to do.
Due to a powerful storm, the phone network has gone down and it is impossible to make phone calls.
MEANING 4: To be remembered in a certain way
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To be remembered as |
Potential antonyms | To be forgotten |
The fourth meaning of 'go down' is one to describe anything that is monumental, noteworthy or incredible as it means to be remembered or recorded in a certain way. Normally, this is because it is something that is unprecedented or is noteworthy for a particular reason, whether that be good or bad.
For this application to make sense, one of two additional words needs to be used: 'as' or 'in'.
We use 'to go down as' when we want to say that something is remarkable and unforgettable and this is often followed by a superlative.
Queen's performance at Live Aid went down as one of the greatest live shows of all time.
This race that we have seen this evening will go down as one of the most thrilling we have ever seen at the Olympics.
To give you a bit of background on this usage, another, rarer meaning of 'go down' is to be written or recorded on paper or books and this brings us to the other alternative 'go down in' as this is usually followed by 'history' or 'the history books', meaning that the notable event in question will be recorded in books for people to read about in years to come.
The year 2020 will go down in history as the year that the world came to a standstill due to the pandemic.
Obama went down in the history books as being the first black president of the United States.
MEANING 5: To be defeated
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To win, to conquer |
Potential antonyms | To lose |
The fifth meaning of 'go down' is to be defeated or to lose something and is used primarily in the world of sport and competitions.
Although 'go down' is used as a direct synonym of the verb 'to lose', I would say that it is used much more rarely in this respect and can often sound a bit dramatic. I would be less inclined to use it when just talking about an ordinary football match or tennis game etc, and perhaps more when there is an element of shock or importance attached to the defeat.
When using this application to talk about a defeat, the preposition 'to' is usually required to specify the winning team.
Liverpool went down 2-1 to Bayern Munich in the game last night.
Novak Djokovic went down in the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer.
Sometimes, this application of 'go down' is used as a threat to someone to say that you will defeat them in a game, match or fight before it happens.
You're going down in the match tonight!
This usage has also given rise to the commonly used expression: 'to not go down without a fight', which means regardless of whether or not you win or lose a competition, game or battle, you will give your best efforts to win and will not make it easy for your opponent. This is often used by the underdog i.e. the person or team expected to lose the competition. O a darker note, in addition to sport and games, this can also be used in war and with people who have a terminal illness.
I know that my cancer is incurable but I refuse to go down without a fight.
Karen was unfairly fired by her company and has vowed to take them to court as she is not going down without a fight.
MEANING 6: To get a positive or negative reaction from someone
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To be received, to elicit a reaction |
The sixth meaning of 'go down' that we will look at in this post is an informal usage which means 'to get a positive or negative reaction from someone'.
To clarify this usage, let's consider an example. Imagine that the love of your life asks you to marry them and naturally you say yes. You then have to tell your parents and hopefully, provided that they like your partner, they will be happy about it, in which case we can say that it went down well with them. Alternatively, if they are not happy about the engagement and they reacted negatively to the news, we cay say that it did not go down well with them. Here are some more examples of this....
I handed in my resignation to my boss today and it not go down well at all. He was really annoyed that I have decided to leave the company.
Did you tell John that you wanted to break up with him? How did the news go down?
We told our young son that we are moving to California and it went down really well with him. He is very excited about starting school there and making new friends.
Not only do we use this for people's reactions to news or announcements, we can also use 'go down' with performances, meals or anything that people can like, dislike, or in other words, have a positive or negative reaction towards.
The meal I cooked for my husband's family went down very well. Everyone had a second helping!
The singer's recent performance did not go down well with fans who said that his voice is not as good as it used to be.
Lastly, we often use the nouns 'treat' or 'storm' to describe when people react very positively to something or enjoy it a lot.
I made a cake and took it into my office this week. It went down a storm with my colleagues and they are asking me when I am going to make another!
I showed your video to my parents. It really went down a treat with them and they enjoyed it a very much.
MEANING 7: To happen
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere but more American |
Potential synonyms | To happen, to go on |
The seventh meaning of 'go down' is another informal one that is mainly used in American English and means 'to happen'.
This application tends to be used in a very general sense, such as to ask what has happened in the past or what is happening at the present moment in a very similar way to the phrasal verb 'go on' in the expression "what's going on?". As I said, this is very much a slang usage, so I would not recommend using this in any kind of formal or professional situation.
Do you know what is going down at the park? There are police cars and ambulances parked everywhere by the gates!
I'm intrigued to find out what goes down at this nightclub that you go to every week. Why do you like it so much?
Simon refuses to talk about what went down in the bar last night.
MEANING 8: To go to prison
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | British English |
Potential synonyms | To be imprisoned, to be sent down, to go to jail, to get banged up |
We are now at the last of the main meanings of the phrasal verb 'go down' that we will look at in this post and this one is another informal one that means to be sent to prison.
This is a British English usage and refers specifically to when a criminal is convicted of a crime and must spend time in jail as a punishment. This usage is typically followed by the period of time that the criminal will have to spend there.
Maureen's husband has been convicted of armed robbery and has gone down for six months.
The serial killer went down for life for his disgusting crimes.
ADDITIONAL USES
As a result of how common the words 'go' and 'down' are in the English language, there are a great number of other more specific uses of 'go down' that exist in everyday language. I didn't want to make this post too long, so I've condensed these down into one section for you...
Lights - If we say that the lights go down, it means that they becomes dimmer or less bright and this is typically used to describe when this happens at the beginning of a show or performance in a theatre, cinema or concert.
Curtains - Staying with the theatrical theme, if we say that the curtains go down, we are specifically referring to when the curtain in a theatre is lowered at the end of a performance.
Knees - To go down on your knees means to lower your body so that you are in a kneeling position, i.e. the bottom half of your legs are flat against the floor whilst the rest of your body is upright, as can often be seen with people praying in a church.
All fours - If someone goes down on all fours, it means that they lower their body so that both their hands and knees are on the ground, for example you may need to go down on all fours to clean the floor, to crawl or to get underneath something low.
Pub - If you are in the UK and somebody asks you if you are going down the pub, don't worry as this is nothing to worry about; it is simply an informal way to ask if you are going to the pub for a drink.
Temperature - If the temperature goes down, it gets cooler or colder.
Drain - If water or liquid goes down a drain, it simply means that it drains away, normally into a pipe or sewage system. You should note however that 'to go down the drain' is a common idiom in English that means to be wasted. It is usually used with such nouns as time, money, effort and work.
To go down on someone - Lastly, the expression 'to go down on someone' is a slightly euphemistic way of saying performing oral sex on someone.
We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new.
Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'go down'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!!
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Indeed very useful