"fall on one's face" meaning in English

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "land on one's feet"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "falls on one's face",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "falling on one's face",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fell on one's face",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fallen on one's face",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fall<,,fell,fallen> on one's face"
      },
      "expansion": "fall on one's face (third-person singular simple present falls on one's face, present participle falling on one's face, simple past fell on one's face, past participle fallen on one's face)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1976 May 3, “Power Switch Hitters”, in Time",
          "text": "Judge Charles R. Richey last week tried to apply some firm rules of law to such indelicate situations. He came close to succeeding, then fell on his face.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988 August 25, Jesus Rangel, “Mob Trial Going to Jury Today in Jersey”, in New York Times, retrieved 2009-08-05",
          "text": "But defense lawyers have compared the case to a \"trashy novel\" in which the Government presented plenty of gossip, hearsay and innuendo but little credible evidence. . . . \"I think the Government fell on their face,\" said Michael Critchley.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Jeff Shaara, The Rising Tide: A Novel of World War II, page 44",
          "text": "[O]thers grumbled, questioning whether this man knew anything about fighting in the desert or was simply a strutting martinet who, once he was confronted with the tactical brilliance of Rommel, would fall on his face like so many before him. Unfortunately, if Montgomery failed, he would no doubt take a good part of the Eighth Army with him.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To fail, especially in a dramatic or particularly decisive manner."
      ],
      "id": "en-fall_on_one's_face-en-verb-ZOAxdLwJ",
      "links": [
        [
          "fail",
          "fail"
        ],
        [
          "dramatic",
          "dramatic"
        ],
        [
          "decisive",
          "decisive"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To fail, especially in a dramatic or particularly decisive manner."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-fall on one's face.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/53/En-au-fall_on_one%27s_face.ogg/En-au-fall_on_one%27s_face.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/En-au-fall_on_one%27s_face.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fall on one's face"
}

{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "land on one's feet"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "falls on one's face",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "falling on one's face",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fell on one's face",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fallen on one's face",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fall<,,fell,fallen> on one's face"
      },
      "expansion": "fall on one's face (third-person singular simple present falls on one's face, present participle falling on one's face, simple past fell on one's face, past participle fallen on one's face)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1976 May 3, “Power Switch Hitters”, in Time",
          "text": "Judge Charles R. Richey last week tried to apply some firm rules of law to such indelicate situations. He came close to succeeding, then fell on his face.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988 August 25, Jesus Rangel, “Mob Trial Going to Jury Today in Jersey”, in New York Times, retrieved 2009-08-05",
          "text": "But defense lawyers have compared the case to a \"trashy novel\" in which the Government presented plenty of gossip, hearsay and innuendo but little credible evidence. . . . \"I think the Government fell on their face,\" said Michael Critchley.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Jeff Shaara, The Rising Tide: A Novel of World War II, page 44",
          "text": "[O]thers grumbled, questioning whether this man knew anything about fighting in the desert or was simply a strutting martinet who, once he was confronted with the tactical brilliance of Rommel, would fall on his face like so many before him. Unfortunately, if Montgomery failed, he would no doubt take a good part of the Eighth Army with him.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To fail, especially in a dramatic or particularly decisive manner."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fail",
          "fail"
        ],
        [
          "dramatic",
          "dramatic"
        ],
        [
          "decisive",
          "decisive"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To fail, especially in a dramatic or particularly decisive manner."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-fall on one's face.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/53/En-au-fall_on_one%27s_face.ogg/En-au-fall_on_one%27s_face.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/En-au-fall_on_one%27s_face.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fall on one's face"
}