fall away

present singular third person falls away · participle present falling away · past fell away · participle past fallen away

1. intransitiveTo cease to support a person or cause.

   After the divorce, all his friends fell away one by one.

   2 more examples

   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

   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. intransitiveTo 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

   2 more examples

   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

   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. intransitiveTo 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. intransitiveTo slope downward.