countdown

/ˈkaʊntˌdaʊn/

nounB1Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,409 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: countdowns

A countdown is counting backwards to the moment of an event. The final countdown, start the countdown, countdown to launch.

It was invented for drama rather than engineering — a 1929 German film used one for a rocket launch, and real rocketry copied it because it worked. It also names any run-up to a date. Note the compound of count and down.

Definitions of countdown

1nouncountdownCounting backwards to the moment of an event.B1
“The crowd shouted the countdown to midnight, and fireworks lit up the sky at zero.”

countdown is a counting.

Where it comes from

Count plus down. The device was popularised by a 1929 German film about a rocket, and real rocketry took it up.

From count + down.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Time & Calendar

Practise this word

countdown in the wild

Since 2015, the countdown has raised more than $3.3 million for various Australian charities through donations and merchandise sales.
Triple J Hottest 100
In 2023, the network launched Triple J Hottest, an internet radio station featuring a playlist of tracks from all previous Hottest 100 countdowns.
Triple J Hottest 100
A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur.
Countdown
Mediabase charts and airplay data are used on many popular radio countdown shows and televised music awards programs.
Mediabase

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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