falls

English Online Dictionary. What means falls‎? What does falls mean?

English

Pronunciation

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

Noun

falls (plural falls)

1. A waterfall.

   Niagara Falls

Derived terms

Translations

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/

Conjunction

falls

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

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

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