plunge into

phrasal verb

plunged into; plunging into; plunges into

: to push (something) into (something) quickly and forcefully

He plunged the knife into the cake.

I plunged the sponge into the bucket of water.

: to start doing (something) with enthusiasm and energy

She plunged (right) into the assignment.

: to suddenly begin to be in (a particular and usually bad condition or situation)

He plunged into a severe depression.

: to cause (someone or something) to suddenly be in (a particular condition or situation)

A series of bad management decisions had plunged the company into debt.

The author plunges his readers into a world of fantasy.

Examples of plunge into in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web One of them eagerly shares videos of his long trek north, showing people plunging into rushing water and walking through a jungle. —

Melanie Stetson Freeman, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 May 2024 How Jim Carrey motivated Jeff Daniels to plunge into 'Dumb and Dumber' Daniels understood that a big risk was disappearing in the comedy, written and directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, behind the force of the outlandish Carrey. —

Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 18 May 2024 Immediately after taking office, Tusk plunged into a head-on collision with the vestiges of PiS ... —

Wiktor Babinski, National Review, 18 May 2024 Neon is plunging into the great unknown with Léa Seydoux and filmmaker Arthur Harari. —

Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 May 2024 The cuts will rend apart the truss section and send the pieces plunging into the river, unpinning the Dali. —

Christine Condon, Baltimore Sun, 8 May 2024 But the real bonanza came when Renaissance plunged into equities, a much larger market than currencies and commodities. —

Jonathan Kandell, New York Times, 10 May 2024 ValuJet Flight 592, with 110 people on board, plunged into the Everglades after taking off from Miami International Airport on May 11, 1996. —

Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 10 May 2024 On March 26, the Francis Scott Key bridge fell into the Patapsco River after it was struck by a nearly 1,000-foot-long container ship named the Dali — sending several people plunging into the frigid waters below. —

Jonathan Franklin, NPR, 8 May 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'plunge into.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.