different between descent vs plummet

English

Etymology

From Middle English and Anglo-Norman descente, from Anglo-Norman descendre (“to descend”); see descend. Compare ascent, ascend. Doublet of desant.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??s?nt/
• Homophones: dissent (for some dialects)

Noun

descent (countable and uncountable, plural descents)

1. An instance of descending; act of coming down.
   • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

     The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent.

2. A way down.

   We had difficulty in finding the correct descent.

3. A sloping passage or incline.

   The descent into the cavern was wet and slippery.

4. Lineage or hereditary derivation.

   Our guide was of Welsh descent.

5. A drop to a lower status or condition; decline. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

   After that, the holiday went into a steep descent.

6. A falling upon or invasion.
7. (topology) A particular extension of the idea of gluing. See Descent (mathematics).

Usage notes

• Sometimes confused with decent.

Antonyms

• (going down): ascent

Derived terms

• hypodescent, hyperdescent

Related terms

• descend

Translations

Further reading

• descent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• descent in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• cedents, scented

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pl?m.?t/
• Rhymes: -?m?t

Noun

plummet (plural plummets)

1. (archaic) A piece of lead attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water, a plumb bob or a plumb line
   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 3 scene 3

     I'll sink him deeper than e'er plummet sounded.

2. (archaic) Hence, any weight
   • 1945, Ernie Pyle, 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.

3. (archaic) A piece of lead formerly used by school children to rule paper for writing (that is, to mark with rules, with lines)
4. A plummet line, a line with a plummet; a sounding line
5. Violent or dramatic fall
6. (figuratively) A decline; a fall; a drop

Translations

Verb

plummet (third-person singular simple present plummets, present participle plummeting or plummetting, simple past and past participle plummeted or plummetted)

1. (intransitive) 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

Translations

See also

• plumb line
• plumb

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “plummet”, in Online Etymology Dictionary