plumb 1 of 3

plumb

2 of 3

adverb

1
as in straight
in a direct line or course I can't believe he walked plumb into the tree, without even seeing it!

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
3

plumb

3 of 3

verb

as in to scale
to measure the depth of (as a body of water) typically with a weighted line plumbed the bay to make sure it was deep enough for the ship

Synonyms & Similar Words

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective plumb differ from other similar words?

The words perpendicular and vertical are common synonyms of plumb. While all three words mean "being at right angles to a base line," plumb stresses an exact verticality determined (as with a plumb line) by earth's gravity.

make sure that the wall is plumb

When might perpendicular be a better fit than plumb?

Although the words perpendicular and plumb have much in common, perpendicular may stress the straightness of a line making a right angle with any other line, not necessarily a horizontal one.

the parallel bars are perpendicular to the support posts

In what contexts can vertical take the place of plumb?

In some situations, the words vertical and plumb are roughly equivalent. However, vertical suggests a line or direction rising straight upward toward a zenith.

the side of the cliff is almost vertical

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of plumb
Adjective
In My Mother and Eye, 2025, a sweeping Public Art Fund project installed in bus shelters across New York City, Boston, and Chicago, eleven discrete photographic collages plumb this intangible meeting point. Jessica Simmons-Reid, Artforum, 1 June 2025 Artists were enlisted to plumb surreality and to popularize it. Jonathon Keats, Forbes.com, 29 Apr. 2025
Verb
Some other long-term, slow-moving gauges are plumbing some extremes. Michael Santoli, CNBC, 9 Aug. 2025 While the wildly funny banter between Byrne and Rogen produce comedic gold, there’s an unwillingness to allow any of these characters to really plumb their dark places (case in point, MacFarlene’s Jeopardy!-obsessed lawyer who undergoes a change that gets resolved too easily). Randy Myers, Mercury News, 7 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for plumb
Recent Examples of Synonyms for plumb
Adjective
  • James Makurat described a scene of utter chaos as he and six other men were caught in a rapidly rising flood and swept into the rushing river.
    Drake Bentley, jsonline.com, 19 Sep. 2025
  • From Africa to Ukraine, the rise and fall of the Wagner Group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was marked by theatrical violence, the seizure of resources, and an utter lack of accountability.
    Joshua Hammer, The New York Review of Books, 18 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • The work has potential applications in surveillance, environmental monitoring, and defense, where vertical lift, silent operation, and agility at low speeds are valuable.
    Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 18 Sep. 2025
  • But a vertical market leader might want to know how many policies in a sub-line of business were quoted versus bound.
    Andy Watts, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
Adverb
  • At first, the curious canine sniffs a paw, but soon follows the trail straight to the source—the black dog's ear.
    Lucy Notarantonio, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Sep. 2025
  • Austin had won two straight before a 2-0 loss to Texas rival FC Dallas last weekend.
    Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 17 Sep. 2025
Adverb
  • Add chicken, reserved 1/2 cup bacon, and 1 cup of the cheese; fold until evenly distributed and fully coated.
    Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 20 Sep. 2025
  • After the fire is fully contained, the next step is to control it.
    CA WILDFIRE BOT, Sacbee.com, 20 Sep. 2025
Adverb
  • Matthews immediately went down and stayed on the field as medical staff rushed to the field.
    Ira Gorawara, New York Times, 21 Sep. 2025
  • Innovation resolves the key challenge of e-mobility MAHLE is also showcasing components for internal combustion engines that can be operated on up to 100% ethanol, massively and immediately reducing the carbon dioxide emissions of the existing vehicle pool.
    Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 20 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Ten category winners will receive $50,000 each, with one school taking home $500,000 to scale what works.
    Jaime Catmull, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
  • While other states are scaling back their more extreme climate policies, California politicians are eager to double down.
    Jon Coupal, Oc Register, 19 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Miley Cyrus’ eighth studio album Something Beautiful arrived earlier this year complete with a visual album and a continuing evolution of the lifelong star’s sound.
    Chris Malone Méndez, Forbes.com, 20 Sep. 2025
  • Cottagecore cozy wouldn’t be complete without a quilt, and this one from Brooklinen is on par to nestling into a cotton candy cloud.
    Yelena Moroz Alpert, Architectural Digest, 20 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • On the fateful day that inbound Soviet bombers filled the skies above America with godless communism, the horizontal Bomarc missiles would literally become erect, and fire vertically.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2025
  • The name of Fort Benning, for example, was suggested by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization that sought to rewrite history textbooks and erect monuments that honored the Confederacy and downplayed slavery's centrality to the Civil War.
    Davis Winkie, USA Today, 19 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Plumb.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plumb. Accessed 22 Sep. 2025.

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