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free fall
1noun
- the hypothetical fall of a body such that the only force acting upon it is that of gravity.
- the part of a parachute jump that precedes the opening of the parachute.
- a decline, especially a sudden or rapid decline, as in value or prestige, that appears to be endless or bottomless:
The economy was in a free fall all winter.
free-fall
2[ free-fawl ]
verb (used without object)
- (of parachutists) to descend initially, as for a designated interval, in a free fall:
The jumpers were required to free-fall for eight seconds.
adjective
- denoting or suggesting a free fall:
a free-fall recession.
noun
free fall
noun
- free descent of a body in which the gravitational force is the only force acting on it
- the part of a parachute descent before the parachute opens
Notes
Word History and Origins
Origin of free fall1
Origin of free fall2
Idioms and Phrases
A rapid, uncontrolled decline, as in The markets threatened to go into free fall and we came close to outright panic. This term transfers the aeronautical meaning of a free fall, that is, “a fall through the air without any impedance, such as a parachute,” to other kinds of precipitous drop. [Second half of 1900s]Example Sentences
She had supported Stern when his own career had first been in gestation and then later in free-fall.
Jackson Jr., son of the legendary minister, won reelection in November despite a career and personal life in seeming free-fall.
Riding a warg, the Pale Orc watches as the company awaits their free-fall into death.
She went into position one without prompting as they jumped and began to free-fall.
I managed to get the gravity turned off and gave them a lesson in free-fall fighting.
Tom couldn't even go into free-fall for ten minutes without getting sick all over the place.
For the first eight hours of free fall, after the engines had cut out, Tom was violently ill.
There was a moment of free-fall, then the drive engine came on and the grav-field equilibrated.
He knew there would be fifty seconds of free-fall before the rockets fired again.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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