Words / C1

PLUNJ/plʌndʒ/

To plunge is to drop or push fast downwards or into a worse state: prices plunged, plunge into debt, plunge into the sea. Drop and dive are everyday. Plunge as a noun is a sudden fall. Do not write plunge for a 0.2% trim.

Meaning

To fall or push quickly downwards or into a worse state; also to jump in.

Examples

• “Enrolment plunged after the bus route was cut.”
• “Enrolment plunged after the night bus was cut, which belonged on slide one.”
• “Drop is everyday; plunge is steep and fast. Dive is sport or a drop too. A plunge (noun) in funding is a fall. A tiny trim is a decrease, not a plunge.”

Good to know

Drop sharply / dive in. Everyday: drop. Noun: a plunge. Keep it for a steep fall, not a rounding error.

Near in meaning

drop

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