What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Tumble vs Plummet - What's the difference?

tumble | plummet | Related terms |

In intransitive terms the difference between tumble and plummet

is that tumble is to fall end over end while plummet is to drop swiftly, in a direct manner; to fall quickly.

tumble

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A fall.
  • I took a tumble down the stairs and broke my tooth.
  • An act of sexual intercourse.
  • * John Betjeman, Group Life: Letchworth
  • Wouldn't it be jolly now, / To take our Aertex panters off / And have a jolly tumble in / The jolly, jolly sun?
  • * 1979 , Martine, Sexual Astrology (page 219)
  • When you've just had a tumble between the sheets and are feeling rumpled and lazy, she may want to get up so she can make the bed.

    Derived terms

    * rough and tumble * take a tumble * tumble dryer * tumbler * give a tumble

    Verb

    (tumbl)
  • (lb) To fall end over end.
  • *(Robert South) (1634–1716)
  • *:He who tumbles from a tower surely has a greater blow than he who slides from a molehill.
  • *
  • *:“Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are'' pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling ''à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better.”
  • To perform gymnastics such as somersaults, rolls, and handsprings.
  • :(Rowe)
  • To roll over and over.
  • *1908 , (Kenneth Grahame), (The Wind in the Willows)
  • *:The two animals tumbled over each other in their eagerness to get inside, and heard the door shut behind them with great joy and relief.
  • (lb) To have sexual intercourse.
  • (lb) To smooth and polish a rough surface on relatively small parts.
  • To muss, to make disorderly; to tousle or rumple.
  • :
  • Derived terms

    * tumble to

    plummet

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) A piece of lead attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water.
  • * 1610 , , act 3 scene 3
  • I'll sink him deeper than e'er plummet sounded.
  • (archaic) A plumb bob or a plumb line.
  • (archaic) Hence, any weight.
  • * 1945, , Here is Your War: Story of G.I. Joe , The World Publishing Company (1945), page #93:
  • His parachute was shot half away, and if he'd jumped he would have fallen like a plummet .
  • (archaic) A piece of lead formerly used by school children to rule paper for writing
  • a plummet line, a line with a plummet; a sounding line.
  • Violent or dramatic fall
  • (figuratively) decline; fall; drop
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2010 , date=December 29 , author=Chris Whyatt , title=Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Yet another seriously under-par performance is unlikely to provide any real answers to their remarkable plummet in form - but it proves they can at least churn out a much-needed result. }}

    Verb

  • To drop swiftly, in a direct manner; to fall quickly.
  • After its ascent, the arrow plummeted to earth.

    Synonyms

    * (to drop swiftly) dive, drop, fall

    Antonyms

    * (to drop swiftly) ascend, rise, rocket, soar, skyrocket

    See also

    * plumb line * plumb

    References

    *