strike down

verb

"strike-down" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“strike down” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To kill (someone or something); to cause to die suddenly.

Corpus desk

Index EN-strike-down · strike down · English

strike down · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "S" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for strike down
PropertyValue
Headwordstrike down
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “strike down” in English

strike downfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

strike down is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for strike down, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is strike down, spelled S-T-R-I-K-E- -D-O-W-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    To kill (someone or something); to cause to die suddenly.
  2. 2
    To knock down.
  3. 3
    To prostrate by illness.
  4. 4
    To invalidate (a law, statute etc.)

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how strike down appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. God will strike you down!
  2. May the Lord strike down those sinners!

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "strike down"?
"strike down" is spelled S-T-R-I-K-E- -D-O-W-N.
What does "strike down" mean?
As a verb, "strike down" means: To kill (someone or something); to cause to die suddenly.
What language does "strike down" come from?
"strike down" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list