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

plume oneself, plumed, plumelet, plummer block, plummer-vinson syndrome, plummet, plummy, plumose, plump, plumpen, plumper

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 forms

un·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