Down crossword clue

The most likely answers for the crossword clue “Down” are LAND, BLUE or KILL, with 4 letters. Below are 102 answers from 3 to 15 letters, best match first in each length, then what each top answer means and how to tell them apart.

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The best answers, explained

OUT 3 letters · adjective

not allowed to continue to bat or run “he was tagged out at second on a close play”

LAND 4 letters · verb

shoot at and force to come down “the enemy landed several of our aircraft”

UNDER 5 letters · adverb

down to defeat, death, or ruin “their competitors went under”

BEHIND 6 letters · adverb

in or to or toward the rear “he followed behind”

PERFECT 7 letters · adjective

being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish “a perfect circle”

MASTERED 8 letters · adjective

understood perfectly

DEPRESSED 9 letters · adjective

lower than previously “the market is depressed”

DESCENDING 10 letters · adjective

coming down or downward

INOPERATIVE 11 letters · adjective

not working or taking effect “an inoperative law”

PERPENDICULARLY 15 letters · adverb

straight up or down without a break

Telling them apart

With 4 squares, LAND, BLUE, KILL, WEAK, PILE and GRIM all fit. The first letter tells them all apart: L → LAND · B → BLUE · K → KILL · W → WEAK · P → PILE · G → GRIM. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 5 squares, UNDER, BREAK, BELOW, FLOOR, CATCH and COAST all fit. The second letter tells them all apart: N → UNDER · R → BREAK · E → BELOW · L → FLOOR · A → CATCH · O → COAST. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 3 squares, OUT, LOW, POP, CAR, CUT and DIG all fit. The first letter settles most of it: O → OUT · L → LOW · P → POP · C → CAR, CUT · D → DIG. Fill in that crossing answer first.

Other forms of this clue

Clues often use another form of the word, and the answer then takes the same form: “dowing” wants an answer that ends the same way.

What “down” means

• adverb: spatially or metaphorically from a higher to a lower level or position (“don't fall down”)
• adverb: away from a more central or a more northerly place (“was sent down to work at the regional office”)
• adverb: paid in cash at time of purchase (“put ten dollars down on the necklace”)
• adverb: from an earlier time (“the story was passed down from father to son”)

A clue usually points at one of these senses, so the right answer is the one that matches the sense the puzzle means: check it against the crossing words.

About these answers

We match the clue against our own thesaurus and dictionary (Open English WordNet): words that mean the same as DOWN, and words whose definition is DOWN. We don't copy answers from newspaper puzzles, so a clue that leans on trivia or wordplay may need the crossing letters instead.