Meanings
nouncountdown (plural countdowns)
plural countdowns · alternative count down · alternative count-down
- space flightThe acts of preparation carried out during this period.
- broadcastingA radio or television program counting down the top songs of a given week, usually in reverse order and ending with the number one song.
verbcountdown (third-person singular simple present countdowns, present participle countdowning, simple past and past participle countdowned)
present singular third person countdowns · participle present countdowning · participle past countdowned · past countdowned · alternative count down · alternative count-down
- nonstandardTo count down.
Whole families stood gawking at the massive statue, countdowning the five remaining minutes to the big one.
2003, Edward Stone Cohen, Firewater, →ISBN, page 1292 more examples
This was accomplished in the old system by polling a software variable representing the number of prebleach bin and issuing a software command to trigger the AOM once the variable has countdowned to zero.
1994, Yifeng Yuan, Polarized fluorescence photobleaching for measuring fast rotational motion of cell surface receptorsTime measures itself out in a series of diminishing peristaltic ticks, countdowning slowly towards the miracle of Ignition.
2000, Stephen Mark Cox, Cluck
Origin
Translations
Arabic عَدّ تَنَازُلِيّ
- عَدّ تَنَازُلِيّ (ʕadd tanāzuliyy)a count backward to the time of some event
Bulgarian отброя́ване
- отброя́ване (otbrojávane)a count backward to the time of some event
Catalan compte enrere
- compte enrerea count backward to the time of some event
Chinese Mandarin 倒數 /倒数, 倒計時 /倒计时
- 倒數 /倒数 (dàoshǔ)a count backward to the time of some event
- 倒計時 /倒计时 (dàojìshí)a count backward to the time of some event
Czech odpočítávání
- odpočítávánía count backward to the time of some event
Dutch aftelling, aftellen
- aftellinga count backward to the time of some event
- aftellena count backward to the time of some event
- aftellingthe acts of preparation carried out during this period
Finnish lähtölaskenta, lista
- lähtölaskentaa count backward to the time of some event
- listaa radio or television program counting down the top songs of a given week
French compte à rebours, décompte
- compte à reboursa count backward to the time of some event
- décomptea count backward to the time of some event
- hit-paradea radio or television program counting down the top songs of a given week
- top 50a radio or television program counting down the top songs of a given week
German Countdown, Zeitkontrolle
- Countdowna count backward to the time of some event
- Zeitkontrollethe acts of preparation carried out during this period
- Countdowna radio or television program counting down the top songs of a given week
Greek αντίστροφη μέτρηση, αντίστροφη μέτρηση
- αντίστροφη μέτρηση (antístrofi métrisi)a count backward to the time of some event
- αντίστροφη μέτρηση (antístrofi métrisi)the acts of preparation carried out during this period
Hebrew ספירה לאחור
- ספירה לאחור (sfira le'akhor)a count backward to the time of some event
Hungarian visszaszámolás, visszaszámlálás
- visszaszámolása count backward to the time of some event
- visszaszámlálása count backward to the time of some event
Indonesian hitung mundur
- hitung mundura count backward to the time of some event
Italian conto alla rovescia, conteggio alla rovescia
- conto alla rovesciaa count backward to the time of some event
- conteggio alla rovesciaa count backward to the time of some event
Japanese カウントダウン
- カウントダウン (kauntodaun)a count backward to the time of some event
Korean 카운트다운
- 카운트다운 (kaunteudaun)a count backward to the time of some event
Malay bilang menurun
- bilang menuruna count backward to the time of some event
Norwegian Bokmål nedtelling
- nedtellinga count backward to the time of some event
Polish odliczanie
- odliczaniea count backward to the time of some event
Portuguese contagem regressiva, contagem regressiva
- contagem regressivaa count backward to the time of some event
- contagem regressivathe acts of preparation carried out during this period
- retrocontagemthe acts of preparation carried out during this period
Romanian denumărare, numărare regresivă
- denumărarea count backward to the time of some event
- numărare regresivăa count backward to the time of some event
- numărare inversăa count backward to the time of some event
- numărătoare inversăa count backward to the time of some event
Russian отсчёт, обра́тный счёт
- отсчёт (otsčót)a count backward to the time of some event
- обра́тный счёт (obrátnyj sčot)a count backward to the time of some event
- обра́тный отсчёт (obrátnyj otsčót)a count backward to the time of some event
- счёт в обра́тном направле́нии (sčot v obrátnom napravlénii)a count backward to the time of some event
- обра́тный отсчёт (obrátnyj otsčót)the acts of preparation carried out during this period
Spanish cuenta atrás, cuenta regresiva
- cuenta atrása count backward to the time of some event
- cuenta regresivaa count backward to the time of some event
- conteo regresivoa count backward to the time of some event
Swedish nedräkning
- nedräkninga count backward to the time of some event
Turkish geri sayım
- geri sayıma count backward to the time of some event
Ukrainian зворо́тний ві́длік
- зворо́тний ві́длік (zvorótnyj vídlik)a count backward to the time of some event
Cite this entry
APA
countdown. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/countdown
MLA
“countdown.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/countdown. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “countdown,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/countdown.
Source: countdown on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.