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fall has 43 distinct synonyms spread across 20 of its 44 senses. Each sense below keeps its own list, because a synonym belongs to a meaning and not to a word: swapping one sense's substitute into another sense's sentence is how a thesaurus makes writing worse. Its one recorded opposite is rise.
Counts are distinct word forms across every sense. A synonym that appears under three senses is counted once here and shown three times below, under each sense it belongs to.
descend in free fall under the influence of gravity
“The branch fell from the tree”
pass suddenly and passively into a state of body or mind
“fall into a trap”
suffer defeat, failure, or ruin
“We must stand or fall”
die, as in battle or in a hunt
“Many soldiers fell at Verdun”
be captured
“The cities fell to the enemy”
occur at a specified time or place
“Christmas falls on a Monday this year”
yield to temptation or sin
“Adam and Eve fell”
lose office or power
“The government fell overnight”
move in a specified direction
“The line of men fall forward”
be due
“payments fall on the 1st of the month”
come into the possession of
“The house accrued to the oldest son”
slope downward
“The hills around here fall towards the ocean”
lose an upright position suddenly
“The vase fell over and the water spilled onto the table”
drop oneself to a lower or less erect position
“She fell back in her chair”
assume a disappointed or sad expression
“Her face fell when she heard that she would be laid off”
come out; issue
“silly phrases fell from her mouth”
be born, used chiefly of lambs
“The lambs fell in the afternoon”
begin vigorously
“The prisoners fell to work right away”
go as if by falling
“Grief fell from our hearts”
3 of the 44 recorded senses carry no synonym, antonym or related term, so they are not shown above. Every sense, with its definition and examples, is on the full entry for fall.
Synonyms, antonyms and the broader and narrower relations for fall come from Princeton University’s WordNet. Full sources and licences.
the lapse of mankind into sinfulness because of the sin of Adam and Eve
“women have been blamed ever since the Fall”
a downward slope or bend
a lapse into sin; a loss of innocence or of chastity
“a fall from virtue”
a sudden decline in strength or number or importance
“the fall of the House of Hapsburg”
a movement downward
“the rise and fall of the tides”
the act of surrendering (usually under agreed conditions)
“they were protected until the capitulation of the fort”
a free and rapid descent by the force of gravity
“it was a miracle that he survived the drop from that height”
a sudden sharp decrease in some quantity
“a drop of 57 points on the Dow Jones index”