Free-fall


[free-fawl] /ˈfriˌfɔl/

verb (used without object), free-fell, free-fallen, free-falling.
1.
(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
2.
denoting or suggesting a free fall:
a free-fall recession.
noun
3.
(def 1, 2).
noun
1.
the hypothetical fall of a body such that the only force acting upon it is that of gravity.
2.
the part of a parachute jump that precedes the opening of the parachute.
3.
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.
noun
1.
free descent of a body in which the gravitational force is the only force acting on it
2.
the part of a parachute descent before the parachute opens

In physics, the motion of a body being acted upon only by gravity. A satellite in orbit is in free fall, as is a skydiver (if we neglect the effects of air resistance).

Note: During free fall, objects are said to be weightless.

noun phrase

An extremely rapid and unhindered descent •First used of a rocket returning to earth; then mainly of a parachutist who had not yet opened the parachute: the bank is trying to slow the free fall of the Mexican peso/ the Russian economy is in free fall (1919+)
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 ]

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