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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Downfall \Down"fall'\ (doun"f[add]l'), noun
1. A sudden fall; a body of things falling.
Those cataracts or downfalls aforesaid. --Holland.
Each downfall of a flood the mountains pour. --Dryden.
2. A sudden descent from rank or state, reputation or happiness; destruction; ruin; as, the senator's unrestrained sexual escapades led to his downfall. [1913 Webster +PJC]
Dire were the consequences which would follow the downfall of so important a place. --Motley.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
downfall
noun
1: failure that results in a loss of position or reputation [syn: {ruin}, {ruination}]
2: the falling to earth of any form of water (rain or snow or hail or sleet or mist) [syn: {precipitation}]
3: a sudden decline in strength or number or importance; "the fall of the House of Hapsburg" [syn: {fall}] [ant: {rise}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
114 Moby Thesaurus words for "downfall": Waterloo, atrophy, bane, beating, bouleversement, brash, breakdown, burst of rain, cascade, cataract, chute, cloudburst, collapse, comedown, conquering, conquest, convulsion, crash, cropper, deathblow, debacle, decadence, declension, declination, decline, defeat, deflation, defluxion, degeneracy, degeneration, degradation, deluge, descending, descension, descent, destroyer, destruction, devolution, discomfiture, down, downbend, downcome, downcurve, downflow, downgrade, downpour, downrush, downtrend, downturn, downward trend, drencher, drop, dropping, drubbing, failure, fall, falling, flood, gravitation, gushing rain, headache, heavy rain, hiding, inclination, lambasting, lathering, licking, mastery, nose dive, overcoming, overthrow, overturn, plash, plummeting, pounce, pour, pratfall, problem, prostration, quietus, rainburst, rainspout, rainstorm, rapids, ruin, ruination, sabotage, scud, smash, soaker, soaking rain, spate, spout, stoop, stumble, subdual, subduing, subjugation, subversion, swoop, tailspin, thrashing, torrent of rain, trimming, trouble, trouncing, tumble, undoing, upheaval, upset, vanquishment, waterfall, waterspout, whipping
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