plummet
plummet Lexical Profile
plummet Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To decrease rapidly in value, amount, or level.
"Overnight temperatures are expected to plummet well below freezing across the northern region."
To fall or drop straight down at high speed.
"The falcon folded its wings and began to plummet toward its prey below."
• noun
A steep and rapid fall or drop in value, amount, or position.
"The sudden plummet in stock prices caught many seasoned investors off guard."
A weight, typically made of lead, attached to a line and used by builders to determine verticality, by mariners to sound the depth of water, or by anglers to sink a fishing line.
"The mason suspended a lead plummet from the beam to ensure the stone wall was completely vertical."
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late 14th century from Old French plomet, meaning a small ball of lead, a diminutive of plom (from Latin plumbum, meaning 'lead'). The verb sense of falling rapidly emerged in the 1930s from the image of a heavy lead weight dropping straight down.