Definition

1. Noun:
   • A state of rapid and uncontrolled decline: A sudden, sharp, and continuous decrease in value, amount, or quality, often used in economic or figurative contexts.
   • The motion of an object moving under the influence of gravity alone: In physics, the ideal motion of a body where the only force acting upon it is gravity, with no other forces (like air resistance) affecting its fall.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Economic/Figurative Decline):
  • The company's stock went into free fall after the scandal was announced.
  • The country's currency is in free fall, losing value by the hour.
• Noun (Physics):
  • Skydivers experience free fall before they open their parachutes.
  • In a vacuum, a feather and a hammer would be in free fall and hit the ground simultaneously.

Advanced Usage

• "to be in free fall": To be in a state of rapid, uncontrolled decline.
  • Morale in the office was in free fall after the layoffs were announced.
• "to go into free fall": To begin a state of rapid, uncontrolled decline.
  • Sales went into free fall following the negative product reviews.

Variants and Related Words

• Free-fall (verb, often hyphenated): To drop or decline rapidly and uncontrollably.
  • The market free-fell for three consecutive days.
• Freefalling (adjective/participle): Describing something that is in a state of free fall.
  • The freefalling prices are causing panic among investors.

Synonyms

• Plummet: To fall or drop straight down at high speed.
• Nosedive: A sudden steep dive or drop; a rapid decline.
• Collapse: A sudden failure or breakdown.
• Descent: The act of moving downward.

Related Phrases

• Economic free fall: A period of rapid economic decline.
  • The 2008 crisis triggered an economic free fall in many countries.
• Controlled free fall: In skydiving, a stable, belly-to-earth position during the fall before parachute deployment.

Related Idioms

• "Going down in flames": Failing completely and spectacularly. (This is a figurative idiom with a similar sense of catastrophic decline as "free fall," but is more extreme and final.)
  • The project went down in flames after the lead developer quit.

Noun

1. a sudden sharp decrease in some quantity
   • a drop of 57 points on the Dow Jones index
   • there was a drop in pressure in the pulmonary artery
   • a dip in prices
   • when that became known the price of their stock went into free fall
2. the ideal falling motion of something subject only to a gravitational field