parachute
Americannoun
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parachutes
plural
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a folding, umbrellalike, fabric device with cords supporting a harness or straps for allowing a person, object, package, etc., to float down safely through the air from a great height, especially from an aircraft, rendered effective by the resistance of the air that expands it during the descent and reduces the velocity of its fall.
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Horology. a shockproofing device for the balance staff of a watch, consisting of a yielding, springlike support for the bearing at either end.
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Informal.
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the aggregate of benefits, as severance pay or vacation pay, given an employee who is dismissed from a company.
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verb (used with object)
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parachutes,
present (3rd person singular)
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parachuted,
past participle, past
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parachuting
present participle
verb (used without object)
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parachutes,
present (3rd person singular)
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parachuted,
past participle, past
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parachuting
present participle
noun
verb
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(of troops, supplies, etc) to land or cause to land by parachute from an aircraft
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(in an election) to bring in (a candidate, esp someone well known) from outside the constituency
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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parachutesimple
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parachutessimple
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have parachutedperfect
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has parachutedperfect
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am parachutingprogressive
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are parachutingprogressive
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is parachutingprogressive
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have been parachutingperfect progressive
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has been parachutingperfect progressive
Past
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parachutedsimple
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had parachutedperfect
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was parachutingprogressive
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were parachutingprogressive
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had been parachutingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of parachute
1775–85; < French, equivalent to para- para- 2 + chute fall; see chute 1
Explanation
A parachute fills with air and breaks the fall of someone falling from an airplane. If your airplane is in trouble, and you need to jump, your best friend is a parachute. That's the device people jumping from airplanes use to slow down their falls. A parachute fills up like a balloon, slowing the person down so they fall to the ground gently and safely. People who jump out of planes for fun also use parachutes. When you do this, you're parachuting. Whether for fun or because of your plane's mechanical failure, parachuting is exciting.
Vocabulary lists containing parachute
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft touched down safely by parachute on July 26 at 5:27 a.m.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
As military aircraft staged flyovers, members of the Army and Navy parachute teams jumped with giant U.S. flags over the mall.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
One proxy firm, Institutional Shareholder Services, even labeled Zaslav’s package a “golden parachute proposal.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Nasa and Elon Musk's Space X were among industry giants to visit a factory which provides parachute material for cosmic exploration.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
A parachute comes down with a pile of bite-sized square-shaped rolls.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
Former Montana smokejumper — a firefighter who parachutes into rural terrain to contain wildfires — Sam Forstag is also hoping to go to D.C. as the state’s first Democratic member of Congress in 30 years.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
Ellis herself—portrayed by the much-honored English actress Sharon D. Clarke—is a specialist of sorts, a crack investigator who parachutes into under-resourced locales to help with cases deemed otherwise unsolvable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
All three landed under good parachutes but two people collided with each other during the freefall.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
The mission's moment of maximum jeopardy had passed, and soon the spacecraft's red-and-white parachutes opened and sent the capsule sailing majestically through the sky.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2026
One hundred thousand wizards gasped as the two Seekers, Krum and Lynch, plummeted through the center of the Chasers, so fast that it looked as though they had just jumped from airplanes without parachutes.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
He was parachuted into parliament in a by-election last month to take his place on the green benches and, weeks later, at the top of the greasy pole.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Walker, a 65-year-old London consultant, said she had yet to "make an impression" of the former mayor of Greater Manchester, who was parachuted into the top office by the Labour Party.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
Base jumpers parachuted from its heights, and a performance artist recorded himself teetering along a 1-inch-wide slackline strung between two of the properties’ 40-story towers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
British paratroopers and medics parachuted onto the island to deliver urgent medical supplies for him.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
It went high into the air, ignited, then parachuted slowly toward the ground, lighting the entire area.
From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers
Commander Dave Lee, Royal Navy Parachute Display Team, spent the event parachuting into Pendennis Castle at the beginning of the eclipse.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Approach this as a collaborative effort, not as a sister parachuting into his personal and financial life all guns blazing.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 23, 2026
Sereni, who recited cantos from Dante in Italian to calm his nerves, was offered a British alias for the parachuting mission.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
In one striking photo, a kneeling US pilot is confronted by a Kuwaiti local, moments after parachuting from his jet.
From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026
Soon after she won the national parachuting championship in 1961, she was recruited for the female cosmonaut program.
From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
