plunge
pronunciation
How to pronounce plunge in British English:
UK [plʌndʒ]
How to pronounce plunge in American English:
US [plʌndʒ]
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- Noun:
- a brief swim in water
- a steep and rapid fall
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- Verb:
- thrust or throw into
- drop steeply
- dash violently or with great speed or impetuosity
- begin with vigor
- cause to be immersed
- fall abruptly
- immerse briefly into a liquid so as to wet, coat, or saturate
- engross (oneself) fully
Word Origin
- plunge
- plunge: see plumb
- plunge (v.)
- late 14c., "to put or thrust violently into," also intransitive, from Old French plongier "plunge, sink into; plunge into, dive in" (mid-12c., Modern French plonger), from Vulgar Latin *plumbicare "to heave the lead," from Latin plumbum "lead" (see plumb (n.)). Original notion perhaps is of a sounding lead or a fishing net weighted with lead. Related: Plunged; plunging. Plunging neckline attested from 1949.
- plunge (n.)
- c. 1400, "deep pool," from plunge (v.). From late 15c. as "a sudden pitch forward;" meaning "act of plunging" is from 1711. Figurative use in take the plunge "commit oneself" is from 1845, from earlier noun sense of "point of being in trouble or danger" (1530s).
Example
- 1. The plunge in natural-gas prices in particular is causing anxiety .
- 2. Others predict that its market share will plunge as much as its profits .
- 3. After confirming his grandfather still wanted to take the plunge , he purchased two tickets .
- 4. The most important of these is a dramatic plunge in fertility .
- 5. Officials say aid deliveries must continue or recovering regions will plunge back into famine .