plummet

[ pluhm-it ]

noun

1. Also called plumb bob. a piece of lead or some other weight attached to a line, used for determining perpendicularity, for sounding, etc.; the bob of a plumb line.
2. something that weighs down or depresses.

verb (used without object)

1. to plunge.

   Synonyms: swoop, drop, dive, fall

plummet

/ ˈplʌmɪt /

verb

1. intr to drop down; plunge

noun

1. See plumb bob
   another word for plumb bob
2. a lead plumb used by anglers to determine the depth of water

Other Words From

• un·plummet·ed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of plummet¹

1350–1400; (noun) Middle English plommet < Middle French, diminutive of plomb lead; (v.) derivative of the noun See plumb, -et

Word History and Origins

Origin of plummet¹

C14: from Old French plommet ball of lead, from plomb lead, from Latin plumbum

Example Sentences

The observations are tied to the lunar cycle, and data LunAero can collect plummets when the moon is less than half full.

From Popular-Science

If you diagnose a plummet in traffic, it may become essential sooner than this.

From Search Engine Watch

Brands thought these people would bring them money, but when they realize that these characters don’t hold longevity and they see a massive plummet, they don’t go back to those people.

From Essence.com

For example, in British Columbia, greenhouse gas emissions might go up, while in Saskatchewan, they would plummet.

From The Daily Beast

Wind chills will plummet to around -20ºF on Friday for Hartford, Providence, and western Massachusetts.

From The Daily Beast

And their value would surely plummet in the event of a default.

From The Daily Beast

Interest rates will soar, home values will plummet, stock markets will crash, and global economies will crater.

From The Daily Beast

But it would be the quickest way for her to plummet in the approval of the Burmese masses.

From The Daily Beast

That the human mind with its poor plummet has already sounded the depths of the divine oracles!

From Project Gutenberg

He means the builder's plummet, which Zorobabel shall hold in his hand for the finishing the building.-Ibid.

From Project Gutenberg

Something like a bath; on first investigation, seems bottomless; but plummet reaches conclusion at last.

From Project Gutenberg

But how about direct taxation, the manly sacrifice of free peoples, the plummet by which to sound the enlightenment of a nation?

From Project Gutenberg

The bees droned, and the wheeling buzzard suddenly dropped like a plummet a hundred yards through the larkspur blue.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• collapse
• crash
• decline
• decrease
• descend
• dip
• dive
• drop
• drop down
• fall
• nose-dive
• plunge
• sink
• skid
• tumble