Meanings
present singular third person falls prey · participle present falling prey · past fell prey · participle past fallen prey
- To be affected, or overcome by, a bad situation; used with to.
Many children at our school have fallen prey to the 'flu bug.
2 more examples
Inexperienced teachers sometimes fall prey to fears that they do not know enough.
Even now gay rights ordinances are in danger of being repealed by local and statewide initiatives. Indeed, San Francisco, the self proclaimed gay capital, is in the danger of falling prey to the anti-gays.
1974 February 2, Edward Sebesta, “Launching the Gay '80s: Gay Rights Under Siege In Santa Clara County”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 32, page 5Synonyms: fall victim
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo be affected, or overcome by, a bad situation; used with to.
Translations
Bulgarian ставам жертва, стана жертва
- ставам жертва (stavam žertva)to be affected by a bad situation
- стана жертва (stana žertva)to be affected by a bad situation
Hungarian áldozatul esik
- áldozatul esikto be affected by a bad situation
Italian cadere vittima
- cadere vittimato be affected by a bad situation
Polish paść ofiarą, padać ofiarą
- paść ofiarąto be affected by a bad situation
- padać ofiarąto be affected by a bad situation
Russian становиться добычей, стать добычей
- становиться добычей (stanovitʹsja dobyčej)to be affected by a bad situation
- стать добычей (statʹ dobyčej)to be affected by a bad situation
Spanish ser presa (de), caer presa (de)
- ser presa (de)to be affected by a bad situation
- caer presa (de)to be affected by a bad situation
Cite this entry
fall prey. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fall%20prey
“fall prey.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fall%20prey. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fall prey,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fall%20prey.
Source: fall prey on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.