plunge
/plʌnd͡ʒ/
plunge verb: to thrust into liquid, or into any penetrable substance; to immerse.
Verb (1)
plunge (third-person singular simple present plunges, present participle plunging, simple past and past participle plunged)
- To thrust into liquid, or into any penetrable substance; to immerse.
- to plunge the body into water
- "Most of them don't wash. Those who do usually plunge their head into some brook or rill, if there happens to be one about."1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 53
- To cast, stab or throw deep and fast into some thing, state, condition or action.
- to plunge a dagger into the breast
- He flicked a switch and the room was plunged into darkness.
- To baptize by immersion.
- To dive, leap or rush (into water or some liquid); to submerge oneself.
- he plunged into the river
- To fall or rush headlong into some thing, action, state or condition.
- to plunge into debt
- to plunge into controversy
- Synonyms:
- slump
- To pitch or throw oneself headlong or violently forward, as a horse does.
- [N]ature affects a looſe kinde of liberty, vvhich it cannot indure to have reſtrained: neither fares it othervviſe vvith it, then vvith ſome vvilde colt; which at the firſt taking up, flings and plunges, and vvill ſtand on no ground; but after it hath been ſomvvhile diſciplin'd at the Poſt, is...1648, J[oseph] Hall, chapter LXXXVI, in Select Thoughts: Or, Choice Helps for a Pious Spirit. […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Brooke, […], published 1654, →OCLC, pages 249–250
- To bet heavily and recklessly; to risk large sums in gambling.
- To entangle or embarrass (mostly used in past participle).
- Plunged and gravelled with three lines of Seneca.1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC
- To overwhelm, overpower.
Noun
plunge (plural plunges)
- The act of plunging or submerging.
- A dive, leap, rush, or pitch into (into water).
- to take the water with a plunge
- A plunge into the sea
- A swimming pool.
- The act of pitching or throwing oneself headlong or violently forward, like an unruly horse.
- Heavy and reckless betting in horse racing; hazardous speculation.
- Synonyms:
- plunger
- An immersion in difficulty, embarrassment, or distress; the condition of being surrounded or overwhelmed; a strait; difficulty.
Verb (2)
plunge (third-person singular simple present plunges, present participle plunging, simple past and past participle plunged)
plunge meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
plunge in Tamil
- முழுக்கு, முழ்கு, மூழ்குதல், முழுமையாக ஈடுபடுதல், முழுநேரமாக ஈடுபடுதல்
plunge in Urdu
- ڈبکی, ڈبکی لگانا
plunge in Bengali
- ডুব দেওয়া, ঝাঁপ দেওয়া
plunge in Telugu
- a plunge, the act of drowning, immersion
- క్రుంకు kruṅku
- a plunge or dive
- మునుక munuka
More languagesFewer languages
- plunge in Malayalam
- വെള്ളത്തിൽ ചാടുക, അമിഴ്ത്തുക, നിമജ്ജനം ചെയ്യുക
- plunge in Kannada
- ನೂಕು, ತಳ್ಳು, ಮುಳುಗು, ಧುಮುಕುವುದು
- plunge in Sanskrit
- मज्जति majjati
- plunge in Arabic
- غَطَّسَ ḡaṭṭasa, غَمَسَ ḡamasa, غَطَسَ ḡaṭasa
- plunge in Persian
- غوطه رفتن ġute raftan
Examples of plunge in a sentence
- to plunge a nation into war
- the city was plunged into darkness
- Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet:[…].1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company...
- Well, no. […] Nevertheless, we shall plunge ahead into the past, using what facts we have to make informed assumptions on how we traveled the slippery slope from there to here.2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “The murky world from whence it all came” (chapter 2), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave...
- Target reported profit plunged 90% in the second quarter, falling far short of expectations, as inflation-weary customers pulled back on spending on nonessential items.2022 August 17, Chris Isidore, “Target profit plunges 90% as inflation-weary shoppers pull back”, in CNN:
Synonyms of plunge
Forms of plunge
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | plunges |
| present participle | plunging |
| past participle | plunged |
| past | plunged |
| Noun | |
| plural | plunges |
Origin of plunge
From Middle English plungen, ploungen, Anglo-Norman plungier, from Old French plongier, (Modern French plonger), from unattested Late Latin frequentative *plumbicō (“to throw a leaded line”), from plumbum (“lead”). Compare plumb, plounce.
Back-formation from plunger.
Words formed from plunge
Phrases with plunge
Words that rhyme with plunge
Questions about plunge
- What does plunge mean?
- Plunge means to thrust into liquid, or into any penetrable substance; to immerse.
- What is plunge in Tamil?
- Plunge in Tamil is முழுக்கு, முழ்கு, மூழ்குதல். See Plunge meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use plunge in a sentence?
- to plunge a nation into war
- What part of speech is plunge?
- Plunge can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce plunge?
- Plunge is pronounced /plʌnd͡ʒ/.
- What is the past tense of plunge?
- The past tense of plunge is plunged.
Words near plunge in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: plunge (page history and authors); plunge (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plunge (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plunge (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); క్రుంకు (Telugu) (page history and authors); plunge (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plunge (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-plunge.ogg.
Cite this entry: “plunge.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plunge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.