say it: KOWNT-down
countdown is a noun meaning "counting backward from an arbitrary number to indicate the time remaining before some event (such as launching a space vehicle)". It carries one recorded sense.
counting backward from an arbitrary number to indicate the time remaining before some event (such as launching a space vehicle)
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for countdown come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.