fall away
verb1
To cease to support a person or cause.
- After the divorce, all his friends fell away one by one.
- These […] for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 8:13:
1 more example
- My "ex"es include both practicing and fallen-away Catholics and Jews.1987 April 11, John Birmingham, “If Only Cardinals Law and O'Connor Were Gay!”, in Gay Community News, page 5:
2
To diminish in size, weight, or intensity.
- One colour falls away by just degrees, and another rises insensibly.1697, Joseph Addison, Essay on Virgil's Georgics:
- While long-distance and commuter rail travel still fared well, train travel to seaside resorts was perhaps inevitably falling away.2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 51:
1 more example
- The power off, the engine noise falls away as we roll east under an odd mixture of old and new bridges.2025 August 20, Paul Clifton, “A driver's eye view of East West Rail”, in RAIL, number 1042, page 33:
3
To perish; to vanish; to be lost.
- How […] can the soul […] fall away into nothing?1711 July 17 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, July 7, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 111; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
4
Of terrain To slope downward.
- Derived terms
- fallaway