Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. See plumb bob.
- n. Something that weighs down or oppresses; a burden.
- v. To fall straight down; plunge.
- v. To decline suddenly and steeply: Stock prices plummeted.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A piece of lead or other metal attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water, determining the vertical, etc.
- n. An instrument used by carpenters, masons, and others in adjusting erections to a vertical line; a plumb-rule.
- n. The pommel or knob on the hilt of a sword.
- n. A weight.
- n. A piece of lead formerly used by school-boys to rule paper for writing.
- To weight with plummets, or as with plummets.
Wiktionary
- n. A piece of lead attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water.
- n. A plumb bob or a plumb line.
- n. Hence, any weight.
- n. A piece of lead formerly used by school children to rule paper for writing
- n. a plummet line, a line with a plummet; a sounding line.
- n. Violent or dramatic fall
- n. decline; fall; drop
- v. To drop swiftly, in a direct manner; to fall quickly.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A piece of lead attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water.
- n. A plumb bob or a plumb line. See under Plumb, n.
- n. Hence, any weight.
- n. A piece of lead formerly used by school children to rule paper for writing.
WordNet 3.0
- v. drop sharply
- n. the metal bob of a plumb line
Etymologies
- Middle English plomet, from Old French, ball of lead, diminutive of plom, plomb, sounding lead, from Latin plumbum.
Examples
“Church invented nothing new of her own when she began to extol Mary; she did not plummet from the worship of the one God to the praise of man.”
“We don't normally use the word plummet but that is the operative word right now," said Mr. Ward.”
The Wall Street Journal: States' Revenue Sinks Amid Income Tax Drop-Off
“The other factor causing military morale to plummet is President Bush's preemptive war in Iraq, which has been followed by a post-war period of no planning that has placed our soldiers in harm's way without hope.”
Sound Politics: Voter registration ruling was based on bogus evidence
“Theoretically, all of the male reindeer - or at least the qualified ones - get together once a year to pull Santa's sleigh, and I assume they have training sessions to make sure that none of them suddenly plummet from the air in a burning hunk of fur and venison.”
“[...] continued plummet is just so damn frustrating.”
“Complaints about unwanted telemarketing calls plummet ACMA”
Do Not Call Violation Complaints Declining | Lifehacker Australia
“I was sitting at home on a Sunday reading the New York Times, and there on the front page was a headline that said "Reagan's popularity plummets to 59 per cent: 'So right there I said:" There is the fundamental difference between Canada and the United States - language: 'The word plummet obviously does not mean the same thing here as it does in the.”
“If people stop buying stuff, suddenly sales tax collection plummet, which is exactly what happened.”
“To capture their growth, you need to be willing to buy into them when their valuations plummet, which is usually when some kind of economic crisis strikes.”
“+3.47% shares have epitomized the notion of plummet.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘plummet’.
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
-
Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 624 more...
-
Dan’s Reading List
Memo to myself: Read these definitions and comments.
Memo to everyone else: Thanks for adding, by the way—I do very much appreciate it. I try to move things from here to my bookmark...moist, yarb, theodolite, fufluns, plummet, crepuscular, twist, pique, umbrage, the united states..., smeath, new interface and 9 more...
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.