parachute

[ par-uh-shoot ]

/ ˈpær əˌʃut /

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See synonyms for: parachute / parachuted / parachuting on Thesaurus.com

noun

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.

parachute brake.

Horology. a shockproofing device for the balance staff of a watch, consisting of a yielding, springlike support for the bearing at either end.

Informal.

the aggregate of benefits, as severance pay or vacation pay, given an employee who is dismissed from a company.
golden parachute.

verb (used with object), par·a·chut·ed, par·a·chut·ing.

to drop or land (troops, equipment, supplies, etc.) by parachute.

verb (used without object), par·a·chut·ed, par·a·chut·ing.

to descend by parachute.

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Origin of parachute

1775–85; <French, equivalent to para-para-² + chute fall; see chute¹

OTHER WORDS FROM parachute

par·a·chut·ic, adjectivepar·a·chut·ist, par·a·chut·er, noun

Words nearby parachute

Paracelsus, paracentesis, paracetaldehyde, paracetamol, parachronism, parachute, parachute brake, parachute rigger, parachute spinnaker, paraclete, paracoccidioidomycosis

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use parachute in a sentence

“What Chicago Public Schools is asking educators to do is like asking someone to jump out of the plane holding a blanket while a parachute is a few rows back,” Goodchild said.
Chicago teachers deadlocked with school district over reopening plans|Kim Bellware, Dawn Reiss|January 26, 2021|Washington Post
New Shepard autonomously steered itself back to the launchpad, while the crew capsule deployed parachutes and landed some distance away, about ten minutes after launch.
SpaceX won’t be the only company launching commercial rockets in 2021|Charlie Wood|January 22, 2021|Popular-Science
We might all feel better and more prepared with a parachute strapped to our backs, but nobody wants to pull the cord.
The Business of Managing a DC Business During a Coup|Lisa Wise|January 15, 2021|Washington Blade
The two hadn’t separated, his parachute hadn’t deployed, and so he had slammed straight into the Earth.
A CIA spyplane crashed outside Area 51 a half-century ago. This explorer found it.|Sarah Scoles|January 5, 2021|Popular-Science

Maybe put a parachute on it if you want to play it safe, and drive them off cliffs.
Why Do We Seek Comfort in the Familiar? (Ep. 445)|Stephen J. Dubner|December 24, 2020|Freakonomics
Are you the kind of criminal who steals a plane and then jumps without a parachute from high over a body of water?
I Felt Like Showering After the First-Person Sex in ‘Grand Theft Auto’|Alec Kubas-Meyer|November 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Daniel Craig, in his finest Bond dinner jacket, called at the Palace and invited her to parachute into the stadium with him.
Imagining Prince Charles as King Makes All of Britain Wish They Could Leave Like Scotland|Clive Irving|September 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And for wingsuit divers, the only way flight can be “real” is if one can land without a parachute.
The High-Flying Secrets of BASE Jumpers|William O’Connor|August 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The modern history of the flight, however, gets its start with Jacques-Sébastien Lenormand and his parachute in 1783.
The High-Flying Secrets of BASE Jumpers|William O’Connor|August 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The second story, which really picks up steam in the latter half of the book, is the race to land without a parachute.
The High-Flying Secrets of BASE Jumpers|William O’Connor|August 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A parachute-arrangement broke your speed at the bottom of the track.
The Planet Strappers|Raymond Zinke Gallun
But he must have been burned some before he jumped, for he sent me a bit of his parachute, and the silk is badly scorched.
The Flying Reporter|Lewis E. (Lewis Edwin) Theiss
You know he was falling head foremost all this time, and the parachute jerked him upright quicker than you could wink your eye.
The Flying Reporter|Lewis E. (Lewis Edwin) Theiss
Tie strings to each corner of the handkerchief, he shouted into his ear, and make a little parachute.
The Flying Reporter|Lewis E. (Lewis Edwin) Theiss
But the performance that stopped every heart and made every onlooker hold his breath was the parachute jumps.
The Flying Reporter|Lewis E. (Lewis Edwin) Theiss

British Dictionary definitions for parachute

parachute

/ (ˈpærəˌʃuːt) /

noun

a device used to retard the fall of a man or package from an aircraft, consisting of a large fabric canopy connected to a harness
(as modifier)parachute troops Sometimes shortened to: chute See also brake parachute

verb

(of troops, supplies, etc) to land or cause to land by parachute from an aircraft

(in an election) to bring in (a candidate, esp someone well known) from outside the constituency

Derived forms of parachute

parachutist, noun

Word Origin for parachute

C18: from French, from para- ² + chute fall

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

parachute

Origin of parachute

OTHER WORDS FROM parachute

Words nearby parachute

Words related to parachute

How to use parachute in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for parachute

Derived forms of parachute

Word Origin for parachute