noun
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Also called: plumbery. the trade or work of a plumber
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the pipes, fixtures, etc, used in a water, drainage, or gas installation
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the act or procedure of using a plumb to gauge depth, a vertical, etc
Etymology
Origin of plumbing
Explanation
Indoor plumbing is what makes civilization great. Plumbing refers to the pipes that get the water in and the sewage out. If a snake shows up in the toilet, it probably came in through the plumbing. Yikes! You can use the noun plumbing whether you're talking about the bathroom sink, the pipes connected to your dishwasher, or the bathtub drain. A home's heating system often consists of plumbing too. The work of fixing or installing this type of system is also plumbing. The word's earliest meaning was "the weighting of a fishing line," from plumb, originally "to sink like lead," which has the Latin root plumba, or "lead."
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.
Then I threw my back out lifting a 50-pound bag of Quikrete, I nearly fell off the ladder pruning trees, plumbing began to look unappealing and everything took longer than anticipated.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 2, 2026
Guests whose reservations were canceled were given false explanations such as plumbing or maintenance problems, or were sent to alternate rental locations.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026
Their troublesome toilet, which cost $23m to design, had problems with its plumbing.
From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026
But taxes, bureaucracy, and capital controls have kept its financial plumbing offshore where possible, in Singapore, Mauritius, or Dubai.
From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026
They were thin and long, with an attachment at the end that made them resemble plumbing parts someone had ripped out of an industrial pump.
From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner
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.
