Faceplant
//ˈfeɪsˌplɑːnt// noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The act of landing face first, as a result of an accident or error. informal
"The skater slipped off his board and did a painful faceplant."
- 2 Death or defeat in a multiplayer online game.
- 3 A wrestling move in which an attacking wrestler forces an opponent down to the mat face-first without a headlock or facelock.
Verb
- 1 To land face first. informal, intransitive, transitive
"Moments before she face-planted on the tile, his hands shot out and grabbed her, pulling her safely to his chest. She face-planted in the middle of his pecs instead."
- 2 To completely fumble or fail in an activity, usually in a spectacular fashion. informal, intransitive
Example
More examples"The skater slipped off his board and did a painful faceplant."
Etymology
From face + plant (“place, set firmly”). Originally skateboarding and snowboarding slang, a humorous variant of handplant, which is an intentional technique in these sports.
Related phrases
More for "faceplant"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.