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Glite Dictionary
⬇️ To fall fast ⚖️ A heavy weight
plummet

plummet

2 7.5
A small heavy metal weight used to check vertical lines
  • noun
  • /ˈplʌmət/
  • Specialized
translation icon : plomada
  • I picture the mailbox swallowing his letters, imagining them dropping inside the box—a quick plummet, paper landing, words on words.

Examples

  • The caterpillar procession of linked cars reached the crest of the hill, hung there for a moment as if time had been suspended, then disappeared in a scream-filled plummet down the far side.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The builder used a plummet to ensure the wall was perfectly vertical.

  • The longest plummet line ever let into the sea went down here, and only found bottom at the depth of 4,000 fathoms.

    Blog text (22)

  • A person would have to be shrewd to have foreseen the 1994 plummet of the peso.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The recent plummet in the cost of clopidogrel since its patent expired will, of course, not have influenced this change, but don't be surprised if further revelations are around the corner.

    Academic text (2012)

  • We're seeing a one-week buy on Diamond Foods (DMND), which had a stock price plummet and is now buffeted by extreme negativity in social media.

    Blog text (8)

  • To measure the depth of the well, they lowered a plummet tied to a long rope.

  • In construction, a plummet is essential for determining level surfaces.

Synonyms

plumb
vsplummet
8 7.4

A small heavy weight on a string used to find a perfectly vertical line

is the same meaning but is a different lexical form
plumb bob
vsplummet
7.0

A heavy pointed weight on a string used to show a vertical line

is the more general weight rather than specifically pointed

Surface Forms

plummet singular
plummets plural

Morphology

plummet = plumb (opaque) = plumb + et

Historically a diminutive formed from 'plumb' + '-et', but the form and meaning ('a small lead weight') and the suffix are not transparent to typical learners today.

Etymology

Plummet began as the name for a small, heavy lead weight used on a plumb line. The word comes from Latin plumbum meaning 'lead', the same root you see in plumber and plumb. That's why a plummet is a metal weight used to check if something is straight up and down.