Word.ws English Dictionary

taking the plunge

taking the plunge is the present participle and gerund of take the plunge.

Meaning of take the plunge

Verb

take the plunge (third-person singular simple present takes the plunge, present participle taking the plunge, simple past took the plunge, past participle taken the plunge)

  1. (idiomatic) To begin any major commitment.
    • And as scientists studying the subject, we will have to conclude that she will take the plunge only if she suffers from overconfidence bias or is innately risk-loving.2009, Saras D. Sarasvathy, Effectuation: Elements of Entrepreneurial Expertise, page 196
  2. (idiomatic) To get engaged to be married.
    • She's been seeing William now for about seven months and it looks as if they may take the plunge.2001, Ben Young, Samuel Adams, The One: A Realistic Guide to Choosing Your Soul Mate

Questions about taking the plunge

What is taking the plunge the present participle and gerund of?
Taking the plunge is the present participle and gerund of take the plunge.

Words near taking the plunge in the dictionary

  1. taking the micky
  2. taking the offensive
  3. taking the pee
  4. taking the piss
  5. taking the place of
  6. taking the plunge
  7. taking the point
  8. taking the purple
  9. taking the rap
  10. taking the red eye
  11. taking the red pill

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taking the plunge (page history and authors); take the plunge (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.

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Cite this entry: “taking the plunge.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/taking_the_plunge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.