Dictionary

touchdown en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈtʌt͡ʃ.daʊn/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From touch + down.

Meanings

1. (Canadian, countable, uncountable) A six-point score occurring when the ball enters possession of a team's player in the opponent's end zone.
   • Today I scored my first touchdown.
   • “I must have caught 45 or 50 touchdowns in that right corner,” he told The Baltimore Sun in 2009. “It was sloped some, a little downhill, which helped me speedwise. I wasn’t all that fast.” 2020 October 29, Richard Goldstein, “Jimmy Orr, a Favorite Target of the Colts’ Unitas, Dies at 85”, in The New York Times:
2. (countable, uncountable) A defensive action of grounding the ball in the team's own in-goal to stop the play.
3. (countable, uncountable) A try (scoring play of grounding the ball in the opposing team's in-goal).
   • A first Test try by Fergus McFadden and a Tomas O'Leary touchdown helped Ireland to a 15-12 half-time lead. 2011 February 13, Lyle Jackson, “Ireland 22-25 France”, in BBC:
4. (countable, uncountable) The moment when an aircraft or spacecraft makes first or final contact with the ground during a landing.
   • The passengers audibly relaxed at touchdown.
   • And I think it's gonna be a long, long time / 'Til touchdown brings me 'round again to find / I'm not the man they think I am at home / Oh, no, no, no[…] 1972 April 17, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, “Rocket Man”, in Honky Château, performed by Elton John:
5. (countable, uncountable) The moment of contact of a tornado with the ground.
   • The American Red Cross sent me to Alabama within twenty-four hours of the tornado's touchdown, and I visited the communities of Oak Grove and Rock Creek four subsequent times. 2003, Jessica McNew, Eyes in a Storm:

Forms

Deriveds

touchdown workspace · touchdown area · touchdown dance · nontouchdown · touchdown pass · touchdown space

Relateds

touch down

Synonyms

setdown

Translations (23)

pl touchdown (landing) · it atterraggio (landing) · fr touchdown (football score) · bg приземяване (landing) · cmn 觸地得分 /触地得分 (football score) · it touchdown (football score) · pl touchdown (football score) · de Aufsetzen (landing) · cmn 著陸 /著陆 (landing) · de Landung (landing) · fr touché (football score) · fi maali (football score) · uk призе́млення (landing) · es touchdown (football score) · ru приземле́ние (landing) · de Landeberührung (landing) · de Touchdown (football score) · fi maakosketus (landing) · fi touchdown (football score) · hy վայրէջք (landing) · be прызямле́нне (landing) · bg тъчдаун (football score) · cmn 着陆 (landing)