plumb
noun
a small mass of lead or other heavy material, as that suspended by a line and used to measure the depth of water or to ascertain a vertical line.
plumb
1 American
[pluhm]
/ plʌm /
noun
-
plumbs
plural
adjective
adverb
-
in a perpendicular or vertical direction.
-
exactly, precisely, or directly.
-
Informal. completely or absolutely.
She was plumb mad. You're plumb right.
verb (used with object)
-
plumbs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
plumbed,
past participle, past
-
plumbing
present participle
-
to test or adjust by a plumb line.
-
to make vertical.
-
Shipbuilding. horn.
-
to sound with or as with a plumb line.
-
to measure (depth) by sounding.
-
to examine closely in order to discover or understand.
to plumb someone's thoughts.
-
to seal with lead.
-
to weight with lead.
-
to provide (a house, building, apartment, etc.) with plumbing.
verb (used without object)
-
plumbs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
plumbed,
past participle, past
-
plumbing
present participle
idioms
Plumb
2
American
[pluhm]
/ plʌm /
noun
plumb
British
/ plʌm /
noun
-
a weight, usually of lead, suspended at the end of a line and used to determine water depth or verticality
-
the perpendicular position of a freely suspended plumb line (esp in the phrases out of plumb, off plumb )
adjective
adverb
-
in a vertical or perpendicular line
-
informal (intensifier)
plumb stupid
-
informal exactly; precisely (also in the phrase plumb on )
verb
-
to test the alignment of or adjust to the vertical with a plumb line
-
(tr) to undergo or experience (the worst extremes of misery, sadness, etc)
to plumb the depths of despair
-
(tr) to understand or master (something obscure)
to plumb a mystery
-
to connect or join (a device such as a tap) to a water pipe or drainage system
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
plumbnessnoun
-
replumbverb (used with object)
-
plumbableadjective
-
plumblessadjective
-
unplumbadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
plumbsimple
-
plumbssimple
-
have plumbedperfect
-
has plumbedperfect
-
am plumbingprogressive
-
are plumbingprogressive
-
is plumbingprogressive
-
have been plumbingperfect progressive
-
has been plumbingperfect progressive
Past
-
plumbedsimple
-
had plumbedperfect
-
was plumbingprogressive
-
were plumbingprogressive
-
had been plumbingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of plumb
1250–1300; Middle English plumbe, probably < Anglo-French *plombe < Vulgar Latin *plumba, for Latin plumbum lead
Explanation
To plumb a body of water, you measure its depth. To plumb a house, you connect all of its pipes. To make carpentry plumb, you get it exactly vertical. Originally, the verb plumb only meant “to measure the depth of water.” These days, if you “plumb the depths” of something, you go in deep for knowledge and experience: your Heidegger seminar may plumb the depths of German Existentialism like Jacques Cousteau plumbed the depths of the ocean.
Vocabulary lists containing plumb
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Christopher Columbus' Diary: The First Voyage
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"The Odyssey," Vocabulary from Part 1 of the epic poem
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Ben Duckett: A quiet Test in which he made only 15 and burned a review despite being plumb lbw.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Amanda is enraptured with its aspirational luxury: “The house had that hush expensive houses do. Silence meant the house was plumb, solid, its organs working in happy harmony.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
Over nine months last year, the groups of artists met monthly on Zoom — “six countries and seven time zones,” says Rozental — along with therapists, scholars and others to plumb the topic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026
Or maybe we’ll plumb new depths of dysfunction in the coming year.
From Salon ● Dec. 31, 2025
From the basket they would drop a weighted plumb line to measure the river’s depth.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
"And so because they couldn't give Chicken Run a little golden man, they invented the category," said Radio 1 film critic Ali Plumb.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Even people who say they have medical qualifications are spreading misinformation online and in podcasts, according to psychosexual and relationship therapist Evie Plumb.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2026
Plumb and his faculty leaders weighed the cost to run courses against the enrollment and value for students.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
About two years ago, St. Michael’s hired Richard Plumb as president.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
I had made up my mind to that effect, and was putting my hand back to unhook the knapsack strap when Isaac Plumb came up to me and asked what I was going to do.
From Personal Recollections of the War of 1861 As Private, Sergeant and Lieutenant in the Sixty-First Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry by Charles Augustus Fuller
Mr. Rowlands plumbs his own most personal and treasured recollections for examples.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
D’Angelo asks that question — worries it, caresses it, plumbs its unseen depths — no fewer than two dozen times in what might have been his signature hit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2025
In keeping with its title, “Choreomaniacs,” which seems to pick up where “Revolver” leaves off, plumbs wilder depths.
From New York Times ● Apr. 24, 2023
Among these some 300 pages are gems, including “Among the Trees,” by poet Carl Phillips, who plumbs the human connections that can be forged in a forest.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 12, 2023
And said, Jack Horner, in the corner, Eats good Christmas pie, And with his thumbs pulls out the plumbs, And said, Good boy am I!
From Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales A Sequel to the Nursery Rhymes of England by J. O. (James Orchard) Halliwell-Phillipps
Small wonder Tom Stoppard plumbed Herzen’s writing for his theatrical trilogy, “Coast of Utopia.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
They often bounce around from team to team, as Darnold did, but never has one plumbed the depths before managing to rise up and claim the sport's ultimate prize in the ultimate NFL redemption story.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026
For proof of the formula’s resilience, look no further than the success of VH1’s “Behind the Music” series, which plumbed the depths of dozens of rock ’n’ roll train wrecks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025
The Indian currency has plumbed a series of new lows versus its U.S. counterpart over the past months, crossing the key psychological level of 90 on Wednesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025
“It isn’t a proper holiday until we’ve plumbed every available sewer.”
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
Since then I’ve put in about $90,000 more: a new roof, kitchen appliances, plumbing work and new windows.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
Major mechanical, electrical and plumbing items ended up running about $500 million above an initial $200 million estimate in 2022, well ahead of what inflation could explain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Owing to incorrect plumbing, affected households pump waste into surface drains, which can then spread, killing wildlife and damaging waterways.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
The method begins with PVC similar to the material found in household plumbing, window structures, and even credit cards.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 29, 2026
I say, “I don’t know a reason for plumbing pipes to be that big. What you’re showing me is way bigger than the flushing hole of a toilet, Calvin.”
From "The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle" by Leslie Connor
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
