freefall en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈfɹiːˌfɔːl/
Etymology
From free + fall.
Meanings
-
(countable, uncountable) A state of motion affected by no acceleration or force other than that of gravity.
SAC has a bomber study currently in progress to see how many freefalls, how many SRAM, how many ALCM's they need to fill out the force.
1977, United States, Congress, Senate, Committee on Armed Services, Fiscal Year 1978 Authorization for Military Procurement, Research, and Development, and Active Duty, Selected Reserve, and Civilian Personnel Strengths, Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, First Session, on S. 1210, page 6083:
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(countable, uncountable) A state of motion but allowing for the presence of incidental air resistance not caused intentionally by devices such parachutes or wings.
I only had four months left on the team and wanted to log as many freefalls as possible, and I was closing in on my 750th jump.
2017, Randy Lippincott, Out of the Blue, My History of Freefall, Ethanol, and Skyfall:
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(broadly, countable, figuratively, uncountable) A rapid, uncontrolled decline or worsening.
compared with the freefalls that followed, one day after another through the next weeks, as brief respites gave way to new selling panics.
1993, Eleanor Ray, Barbara Marinacci, Vineyards in the Sky, The Life of Legendary Vintner Martin Ray, page 149:Passenger numbers in freefall as UK battles COVID-19
2020 March 25, Rail, front cover:As civil war continues in Iraq, the U.S. president's approval ratings are in freefall.
That "spiritual imagination" is manifest in the "Mass," which checks the freefalls into dread with praise for the mystery, flux and plenitude of creation.
1989, Sagetrieb, volume 8, page 177:House prices were in freefall, if you owned one.
2010, Mick Herron, Slow Horses, page 63:Even with the economy in free fall, demand for cheap, cute clothes persisted.
2021 February 6, Rachel Monroe, “Ultra-fast Fashion Is Eating the World”, in The Atlantic:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| free fall | alternative | lexicographic | |
| freefalls | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| free-fall | alternative | lexicographic |
Deriveds
accelerated freefall · free-fall time · universality of freefall · in freefall · acceleration of freefall · freefall style · progressive freefall
Translations (34)
id terjun bebas (falling through atmosphere without additional drag devices) · es caída libre (being affected only by gravity) · fi vapaa pudotus (state of worsening out of control) · it caduta libera (state of worsening out of control) · hi मुक्त पात (being affected only by gravity) · pt queda livre (falling through atmosphere without additional drag devices) · cs volný pád (being affected only by gravity) · tr serbest düşüş (being affected only by gravity) · ca caiguda lliure (being affected only by gravity) · pl sytuacja wymykająca się spod kontroli (state of worsening out of control) · es caída libre (state of worsening out of control) · fr chute libre (falling through atmosphere without additional drag devices) · pl spadek swobodny (falling through atmosphere without additional drag devices) · es caída libre (falling through atmosphere without additional drag devices) · es caimiento libre (being affected only by gravity) · fi vapaa pudotus (being affected only by gravity) · pl spadek swobodny (being affected only by gravity) · de freier Fall (being affected only by gravity) · ro picaj (state of worsening out of control) · az sərbəstdüşmə (being affected only by gravity) · de freier Fall (falling through atmosphere without additional drag devices) · hi मुक्त पतन (being affected only by gravity) · ro cădere liberă (state of worsening out of control) · fi vapaa pudotus (falling through atmosphere without additional drag devices) · fr chute libre (being affected only by gravity) · cmn 自由落體 /自由落体 (being affected only by gravity) · es caimiento libre (falling through atmosphere without additional drag devices) · es caimiento libre (state of worsening out of control) · ca caiguda lliure (falling through atmosphere without additional drag devices) · pt queda livre (state of worsening out of control) · it caduta libera (falling through atmosphere without additional drag devices) · pt queda livre (being affected only by gravity) · id jatuh bebas (being affected only by gravity) · vi rơi tự do (being affected only by gravity)