nail down

phrasal verb

nailed down; nailing down; nails down

1

: to make (something, such as a victory) certain to happen

They need to score another touchdown to nail down the victory.

2

: to find out or identify (something) exactly

Her doctors haven't yet been able to nail down a diagnosis.

They're trying to nail down the cause of our network problems.

3

: to make (something) definite or final

nail down a decision

Examples of nail down in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The center fielder, unsure whether the day’s matinée began at 1:05 p.m. or 1:35 p.m., wanted to nail down the start time before going about his pregame business. —Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 20 June 2025

Between all the ups and downs, the challenge is nailing down the proper value and how that inflates in a rising-cap world. —Shayna Goldman, New York Times, 17 June 2025

Alessi looked to nail down a timeline of when Welcher may have made changes to the document and whether the prosecution communicated with him regarding the alterations. —Julia Bonavita , Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 29 May 2025

State and local tax deductions Speaker Johnson and House Republicans hailing from high-tax blue states held intense talks in recent weeks to nail down a deal on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap that helped the chamber clear the bill before Memorial Day. —Rachel Frazin, The Hill, 23 May 2025

Rhymes for nail down

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown