From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfree fallˈfree fall, free-fall noun [singular, uncountable] 1 TTAthe movement of someone or something through the air without engine power, for example before a parachute opens after someone has jumped out of a planein/into free fall The spacecraft is now in free fall towards the Earth.2 VALUEa very fast and uncontrolled fall in the value of something the free-fall in housing pricesin/into free fall The economy is in free fall. —free-falling adjective
Examples from the Corpus
free fall• Floyd investigated it soon after free fall had begun.• What is essential for free fall is that the capsule is not powered and that the atmospheric drag is negligibly small.• Einstein next considered the implications of the equivalence principle for motion in free fall, that is to say motion under gravitational forces alone.• And he almost got it three weeks ago when it was obvious the team was in free fall.• But as they go into production the stock exchanges go into free fall.• The northeastern flank is the lowest, but still promises 500 feet of free fall.in/into free fall• It is always possible, even in free fall, to obtain non-vanishing metric connections by choosing Gaussian rather than Cartesian coordinates.• It is emphasized here that there is no rotation in a frame in free fall.• Thus we have verified that a transformation to a frame in free fall is always possible. 6.7.• A procedure for transforming to a frame in free fall is described in Section 6.6.• Over the next hours the spacecraft is in free fall toward the lunar surface, constantly accelerating in the lunar gravity.• Einstein next considered the implications of the equivalence principle for motion in free fall, that is to say motion under gravitational forces alone.• And he almost got it three weeks ago when it was obvious the team was in free fall.in/into free fall• It is always possible, even in free fall, to obtain non-vanishing metric connections by choosing Gaussian rather than Cartesian coordinates.• It is emphasized here that there is no rotation in a frame in free fall.• Thus we have verified that a transformation to a frame in free fall is always possible. 6.7.• A procedure for transforming to a frame in free fall is described in Section 6.6.• Suddenly the plane seemed to go into free fall.• Over the next hours the spacecraft is in free fall toward the lunar surface, constantly accelerating in the lunar gravity.• Einstein next considered the implications of the equivalence principle for motion in free fall, that is to say motion under gravitational forces alone.• And he almost got it three weeks ago when it was obvious the team was in free fall.From Longman Business Dictionaryfree fallˈfree fall (also free-fall) noun [singular, uncountable] journalismFINANCE when prices on a financial market go down suddenly or the economy gets worse very quicklyAfter closing at $19.125 per share on Tuesday, the shares went into a free fall, ending at $14.50 at Friday’s close.Mexico’s peso went into free fall last December.He says that he is not worried by the free fall in housing prices. 