countdown
countdown Lexical Profile
countdown Game Scores & Validity
• noun
An act of counting numerals backward to zero to mark the time remaining before an event, especially the launch of a spacecraft or the start of a broadcast.
"The crowd in the plaza joined in the final ten-second countdown to midnight on New Year's Eve."
The final period of preparation and anticipation leading up to a significant scheduled event.
"With only two weeks left before the championship tournament, the countdown to opening day had officially begun."
A ranked list of items, especially popular songs or media, presented in reverse numerical order up to the top-ranked entry.
"Every weekend, the radio station broadcasts a countdown of the forty most popular songs in the country."
Word Nuance & Usage
The closed compound "countdown" functions as a noun ("the final countdown"), whereas the open two-word phrase "count down" is used as the phrasal verb ("they will count down the seconds").
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the mid-20th century from the phrasal verb "count down," the noun was popularized during the 1950s in the context of artillery tests and aerospace rocket launches.