man down
To lose courage or cause to lose courage.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“He felt like a man down after his team lost the game.”
“The difficult project made the whole office feel like a man down, so the manager tried to boost their spirits.”
“Facing relentless criticism from the board, the director felt like a man down and struggled to maintain his usual confidence in the strategy.”
From the verb *man*, signifying the act of bracing or fortifying oneself, supplying a crew, or accustoming a hawk to the presence of men, plus *down*.
- 01
be a man
To put up with something or take responsibility for it; to deal with something, such as pain or misfortune, without complaining.
- 02
be one's own man
To behave independently without the influence of others.
- 03
be the bigger man
To walk away from a conflict to prevent it from escalating.
- 04
boldly go where no man has gone before
To break new ground.
- 05
broken man
A man who has suffered significant and enduring emotional pain as a result of a highly unpleasant or traumatic event.
- 06
every man has a price
Everyone can be bribed or corrupted for a certain price.
- 07
faceless man
Someone who is not elected to political office, but exerts power over political affairs from behind the scenes.
- 08
funny man
Alternative form of funnyman.
Last updated August 10, 2026