different between plummet vs diminish

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

English

Etymology

Formed under the influence of both diminue (from Old French diminuer, from Latin d?minuo) and minish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??m?n??/

Verb

diminish (third-person singular simple present diminishes, present participle diminishing, simple past and past participle diminished)

1. (transitive) To make smaller.
2. (intransitive) To become smaller.
3. (transitive) To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken; to nerf (in gaming).
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Ezekiel 29:15,^[1]

     It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.

   • 1639, Ralph Robinson (translator), Utopia by Thomas More, London, Book 2, “Of their journying or travelling abroad,” p. 197,^[2]

     […] this doth nothing diminish their opinion.

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 4, lines 32-35,^[3]

     O thou, that, with surpassing glory crowned,

     Lookest from thy sole dominion like the God

     Of this new world; at whose sight all the stars

     Hide their diminished heads; to thee I call,

   • 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, London: André Deutsch, Chapter 3,

     In Seth’s presence Mr Biswas felt diminished. Everything about Seth was overpowering: his calm manner, his smooth grey hair, his ivory holder, his hard swollen forearms […]

4. (intransitive) To taper.
   • 1853, Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford, London: J.M. Dent, 1904, Chapter 8, p. 120,^[4]

     The chair and table legs diminished as they neared the ground, and were straight and square in all their corners.

5. (intransitive) To disappear gradually.
   • 1948, Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter, Penguin, 1971, Part Two, Chapter 2, 1, p. 77,^[5]

     ‘Good evening, good evening,’ Father Rank called. His stride lengthened and he caught a foot in his soutane and stumbled as he went by. ‘A storm’s coming up,’ he said. ‘Got to hurry,’ and his ‘ho, ho, ho’ diminished mournfully along the railway track, bringing no comfort to anyone.

6. (transitive) To take away; to subtract.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Deuteronomy 4:2,^[6]

     Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

Antonyms

• improve, repair, renovate

Derived terms

• diminishment
• law of diminishing returns

Related terms

• diminution

Translations

Anagrams

• minidish