fall upon

verb

To experience; to suffer.

“With the rise of the Internet, some media fell upon hard times.”

Meanings

verbfall upon (third-person singular simple present falls upon, present participle falling upon, simple past fell upon, past participle fallen upon)

present singular third person falls upon · participle present falling upon · past fell upon · participle past fallen upon · alternative fall on

  1. To experience; to suffer.

    With the rise of the Internet, some media fell upon hard times.

    1 more example

    Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps,[…], and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.

    1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
  2. To occur at some particular point in time.

    It fell upon the day of full moon of the fourth month, the second year, in the era of Established Calm (AD 168), that Emperor Ling went in state to the Hall of Virtue.

    1925, Charles Henry Brewitt-Taylor, chapter 1, in Romance of the Three Kingdoms
  3. To set upon; to attack suddenly; to invade.

    If the Duke, with the other dukes, come not to composition with the king of Hungary, why then all the dukes fall upon the king.

    c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], lines 1-3
  4. To happen upon, find.

    If we dig deeply into why it was so important for mainstream USA (and the rest that followed) to smear Jackson, we may fall upon the same reasons why more attention has been paid to Black women making anti-Semitic remarks than white women.

    1985 February 2, Malkah Barrsey Feldman, “Blacks & Jews: Vulnerability & Values”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 28, page 14

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Latin incessō
  • incessōto set upon, attack suddenly
Cite this entry
APA

fall upon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fall%20upon

MLA

“fall upon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fall%20upon. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fall upon,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fall%20upon.

Source: fall upon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.