falls

See also: Falls, -falls, and fälls

English

Angel Falls in Venezuela

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɔːlz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɔlz/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /fɑlz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːlz

Noun

falls (plural falls)

1. A waterfall.

   Niagara Falls

   • 1983 [1981], John Crowley, “The Art of Memory”, in Little, Big, Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 475:

     And climbed up through the woods, past the lake island where the white gazebo stood up to its knees in mist, up to where a falls fell melodiously into a deep dark pool.

Derived terms

• American Falls
• Bishop's Falls
• Black River Falls
• Boyoma Falls
• Chippewa Falls
• Clam Falls
• Cottonwood Falls
• Crystal Falls
• Cuyahoga Falls
• Falls Church
• Falls City
• Falls County
• Falls of Cruachan
• Fergus Falls
• Granite Falls
• Great Falls
• Idaho Falls
• International Falls
• Little Falls
• Livingstone Falls
• Niagara Falls
• Red Lake Falls
• Redwood Falls
• Rock Falls
• Russell Falls
• Shivanasamudra Falls
• Sioux Falls
• Sivasamudram Falls
• Smiths Falls
• Stanley Falls
• St. Croix Falls
• Sutherland Falls
• Thief River Falls
• Thompson Falls
• Twin Falls
• Valley Falls
• Victoria Falls
• Wichita Falls

 

Translations

waterfall — see also waterfall

• Bulgarian: водопад m (vodopad)
• Danish: vandfald (da) n
• Finnish: vesiputous (fi)
• German: Wasserfall (de) m, -fälle m pl
• Hungarian: vízesés (hu)
• Polish: wodospad (pl)
• Russian: водопа́д (ru) m (vodopád)
• Scottish Gaelic: eas (gd) m
• Tagalog: talon

Noun

falls

1. plural of fall

Verb

falls

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of fall

German

Etymology

Presumably from the genitive of Fall.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fals/

• Audio:

  (file)

Conjunction

falls

1. (conditional, somewhat formal) if, in the event that

   Falls es anfängt zu regnen, müssen wir das Fenster zumachen.

   If it starts raining, we need to close the window.

   Falls es keinen Nebel gibt, genießen Sie die Sonne.

   If there is no fog, enjoy the sun.

2. (chiefly colloquial) in case, in order to be; prepared if

   Lass uns das Fenster zumachen, falls es anfängt zu regnen.

   Let's close the window, in case it starts raining.

Usage notes

• Falls is synonymous to the more common wenn (“if”), but has the advantage of being unambiguously conditional, while wenn can also be used temporally (meaning "when, whenever").
• Colloquially, falls is used somewhat differently than in standard German proper. It does occur in sense 1, but infrequently. In return, it is often heard in sense 2 where formal usage would require für den Fall, dass.

Synonyms

• (sense 1) wenn
• (sense 2) für den Fall, dass

Related terms

• Fall

Further reading

• “falls” in Duden online
• “falls” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Icelandic

Noun

falls n

1. indefinite genitive singular of fall

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From German falls (17th c.).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fals/, [fɑl(t)s]
• Rhymes: -ɑls

Conjunction

falls

1. if (in the case that)

Swedish

Etymology

• Homophone: fals

Noun

falls

1. indefinite genitive singular of fall
2. indefinite genitive plural of fall

See also

• fals