Plunging

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈplʌn.d͡ʒɪŋ/

Definitions

1. Moving or falling rapidly downward or at a steep angle ; suddenly going deeply or fully into something
2. Descending or dropping swiftly with force or steepness ; abruptly immersing or thrusting into a place or state
3. Rapidly dropping or moving down sharply or quickly ; entering or thrusting oneself abruptly and fully within an environment or substance

Etymology: "Plunging" is the present participle of "plunge," and the verb's history is a tangle of two separate ideas that eventually merged. "Plunge" entered English in the 14th century from Old French "plungier," which came from Latin "plumbum" (lead). The link is physical: to plunge something was to sink it, the way a heavy lead weight drops through water. The Latin root also gave English "plumb," the weighted line that measures true vertical, and "plumber," originally someone who worked with lead. The verb did not stay tied to water or metal, though. By the 1400s "plunge" was used for thrusting someone into trouble or difficulty, a sense that survives in phrases like "plunged into debt" or "plunged the country into war." This abstract use of forcing a person or place into a state is the origin of the second meaning given here, which sits alongside the older sense of a sudden, forceful descent.

Synonyms: diving, falling, dropping

Antonyms: rising, ascending, floating