Meaning & use
falling like flies
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Meanings
phraseidiominformal
dying, becoming ill, or being defeated in large numbers within a short period
Grammar: Used after be or a verb of motion: the soldiers were falling like flies.
Patterns
- be falling like flies
- fall like flies
During the epidemic, the villagers were falling like flies.
The soldiers fell like flies in the first week of the battle.
Without proper medicine, the cattle were falling like flies.
phraseidiominformal
leaving or stopping an activity in large numbers at the same time
Grammar: Often used for people quitting a job, a team, or a group: the staff were falling like flies.
Patterns
- be falling like flies
- fall like flies
After the new manager arrived, the employees were falling like flies.
The contestants fell like flies once the questions got harder.
Common combinations
- be falling like flies
- The patients were falling like flies during the heatwave.
- fall like flies
- In the final round, the boxers fell like flies.
- drop like flies
- The runners dropped like flies in the marathon.
Synonyms and how they differ
- drop like flies
- A very close variant; it is more common in American English and can also mean people dropping out of an activity.
- die off
- This phrasal verb is more neutral and often used for animals or plants, not people.
Word family
- fly noun
- An insect with two wings; the plural flies is the key word in this idiom.
Commonly confused: falling like flies or falling like dominoes?
falling like flies vs falling like dominoes
This means failing one after another in a chain reaction, often for systems or governments, not for people dying or leaving.
Practice
During the famine, the animals in the village were _______.
Choose one answer.
The fixed idiom uses the plural flies and the verb fall: falling like flies. The singular 'like a fly' changes the idiom and the meaning, and the other options are not English expressions.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “falling like flies”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.