plummet

Meaning

Noun

1. (archaic) A piece of lead attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water; a plumb bob or a plumb line.
2. (archaic) Hence, any weight.
3. (archaic) A piece of lead formerly used by schoolchildren to rule paper for writing (that is, to mark with rules, with lines).
4. A violent or dramatic fall.
5. (figuratively) A decline; a fall; a drop.

Verb

To drop swiftly, in a direct manner; to fall quickly.

Synonyms

plumb

plumb bob

fall

plunge

plumb line

bob

nosedive

lead

sounding lead

dive

sink

sinker

sounding line

plumb-line

topple

plump

tumble

hurl down

stumble

drop

lance

level

lower

lunge

plunk

regurgitate

rush

scoot

scud

spirit level

stoop

swoop

tum

zoom

grow less

hand lead

shower down

straight down

weight

sounding-instrument

gravity weight

lead-pen

sink-stone

barge

lead-hammer

bear down

buck

bullet

burst

crash

Translations

Lot

plomada

Senkblei

tomber

schietlood

dégringoler

precipitare

cair

despencar

abstürzen

cado

prumo

stürzen

absinken

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈplʌmɪt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: plommet

In summary

From Middle English plommet (“ball of lead, plumb of a bob-line”), recorded since 1382, from Old French plommet or plomet, the diminutive of plom, plum (“lead, sounding lead”), from Latin plumbum (“lead”). The verb is first recorded in 1626, originally meaning “to fathom, take soundings", from the noun.