in a perpendicular or vertical direction.
exactly, precisely, or directly.
Informal. completely or absolutely.
She was plumb mad. You're plumb right.
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.
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 )
in a vertical or perpendicular line
informal (intensifier)
plumb stupid
informal exactly; precisely (also in the phrase plumb on )
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
1250–1300; Middle English plumbe, probably < Anglo-French *plombe < Vulgar Latin *plumba, for Latin plumbum lead
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Or maybe we’ll plumb new depths of dysfunction in the coming year.
From Salon ● Dec. 31, 2025
The songs on Del Real’s first solo album — the title yet to be revealed — plumb the depths of silence and sonic expansion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2025
As is often the case when Hamilton struggles, not only does his mood plumb the depths, but the F1 rumour mill spins into overdrive.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2025
“Marty,” Dad says, and now his voice is just plumb tired.
From "Shiloh" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
"I also cannot believe this happened," Plumb wrote on Instagram after sharing pictures of the event showing Spielberg and Domingo surrounded by pub-goers.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 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
About two years ago, St. Michael’s hired Richard Plumb as president.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
Plumb championed a new emergency services major that has drawn wide student interest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
If that definition is correct, Dr. Plumb is a superstitious man, because he believes at least without evidence.
From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 7 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Discussions by Ingersoll, Robert Green
Mr. Rowlands plumbs his own most personal and treasured recollections for examples.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
Never one to trawl the same waters twice, Cosby plumbs new depths in his latest, “All the Sinners Bleed,” by making its focus a man of the law.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2023
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
It chanced that as the girl turned from the door, Mrs. Loft came to the parlour window, and, seeing the girl look so ill, she felt sorry she had not bought the plumbs.
From The Bad Family & Other Stories by Fenwick, E. (Eliza)
Her challenging books demand to be plumbed, debated, compared—and reread.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 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
Each time we think a new low has been reached in the past couple of years, yet another depth is plumbed.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2025
A long-running survey of consumer confidence fell in November to a seven-month low and plumbed depths last reached during the covid crisis in 2020.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 25, 2025
Design specifications required that every building be surrounded by an underwater main and be plumbed with interior standpipes.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Zoe, who lives in North Oxford, is now debt-free and completing a plumbing apprenticeship.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
As well as Mulan Build and 38fix, there is Diandian Home Solution, an all-women plumbing and furniture assembly service operating in the southern cities of Guangzhou and Kunming.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
However, when Duhamel first purchased the property, he admitted that it was in a very rustic state, telling Country Living in April 2025 that the cabin didn’t have plumbing for many years.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
The kitchen sinks aren’t working, and the plumbing is simultaneously screeching and groaning.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026
Maybe plumbing isn’t as exciting as being a police dispatcher in thrill-a-minute Spruce Harbor.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
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.
