plummet

[ pluhm-it ]
See synonyms for: plummetplummetedplummeting on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. 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.

  2. something that weighs down or depresses.

verb (used without object)
  1. to plunge.

Origin of plummet

1
1350–1400; (noun) Middle English plommet<Middle French, diminutive of plomb lead; (v.) derivative of the noun See plumb, -et

Other words for plummet

Other words from plummet

  • un·plum·met·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use plummet in a sentence

  • Between the cars that plummeted 191 feet to the sea and the people drowned in the trains, the deaths were mounting.

    Little Brother | Cory Doctorow
  • Even when the price had plummeted to a penny a pound the planters were not discouraged from planting.

  • The bottle fell like a stone, plummeted straight down and crashed into a million fragments on the floor of the satellite.

    The Star Lord | Boyd Ellanby
  • There was a soft rush of wings as a great dark owl plummeted to earth and struck talons into the brown fur.

    The Syndic | C.M. Kornbluth
  • Instantly Hanlon could feel the surge of acceleration as the great ship he was riding plummeted planetward.

    Man of Many Minds | E. Everett Evans

British Dictionary definitions for plummet

plummet

/ (ˈplʌmɪt) /


verb-mets, -meting or -meted
  1. (intr) to drop down; plunge

noun
  1. another word for plumb bob

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

Origin of plummet

1
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