plummet

[ pluhm-it ]

/ ˈplʌm ɪt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR plummet ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Also called plumb bob. a piece of lead or some other weight attached to a line, used for determining perpendicularity, for sounding, etc.; the bob of a plumb line.

something that weighs down or depresses.

verb (used without object)

to plunge.

Nearby words

Origin of plummet

1350–1400; (noun) Middle English plommet < Middle French, diminutive of plomb lead; (v.) derivative of the noun See plumb, -et

SYNONYMS FOR plummet

3. fall, dive, drop, swoop.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR plummet ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formsun·plum·met·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for plummet

Wind chills will plummet to around -20ºF on Friday for Hartford, Providence, and western Massachusetts.
36 Hours of Frozen Fury|Eric Holthaus|January 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Interest rates will soar, home values will plummet, stock markets will crash, and global economies will crater.
Crying Wolf on Capitol Hill|Joe McLean|October 11, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But it would be the quickest way for her to plummet in the approval of the Burmese masses.
Why Does Aung San Suu Kyi Not Speak Up?|Peter Popham|July 1, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Who heartlessly kicks Aziz Ansari into a hole, causing him to plummet to his death, instead of trying to save him?
‘This Is the End’ Craziest Moments Quiz: Which Celeb Did What?|Kevin Fallon|June 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST

That strategy was revealed as a loser when print advertising began to plummet, and fall, and then fall again.
The New York Times Co.’s Quarterly Earnings Report: News Isn’t Cheap|Daniel Gross|April 26, 2013|DAILY BEAST
A bead P, kept in its place by friction, is threaded on the plummet line at some convenient height above H.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 3|Various
He dropped the ship like a plummet while the ray operators prepared to sweep the formation with their beams.
Islands of Space|John W Campbell
Oh, is there any plummet to sound the depths of a mother's love?
Debts of Honor|Maurus Jkai
But this fool seemed intent on baiting the Pacific with a plummet, a hook, and a lump of salt pork.
Foe-Farrell|Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
The soundings, when the plummet first touches the ground, on approaching the shores, give some idea of this.
The Book of Curiosities|I. Platts

British Dictionary definitions for plummet

plummet

/ (ˈplʌmɪt) /

verb -mets, -meting or -meted

(intr) to drop down; plunge

noun

another word for plumb bob

a lead plumb used by anglers to determine the depth of water

Word Origin for plummet

C14: from Old French plommet ball of lead, from plomb lead, from Latin plumbum

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

Word Origin and History for plummet

plummet

late 14c., "ball of lead, plumb of a bob-line," from Old French plomet "graphite, lead; plummet, sounding lead," diminutive of plom "sounding lead" (see plumb (n.)).

plummet

1620s, "to fathom, take soundings," from plummet (n.). Meaning "to fall rapidly" first recorded 1933, perhaps originally among aviators. Related: Plummeted; plummeting.

plummet

noun

verb (used without object)

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of plummet

Examples from the Web for plummet

plummet

verb -mets, -meting or -meted

noun

Word Origin for plummet

plummet

plummet