nosedive

noun

nose·​dive ˈnōz-ˌdīv 

1

: a downward nose-first plunge of a flying object (such as an airplane)

2

: a sudden extreme drop

stock prices took a nosedive

nose-dive intransitive verb

Synonyms of nosedive

• drop
• dip
• decline
• plunge
• descent
• fall

Examples of nosedive in a Sentence

The plane went into a nosedive.

The stock market took a nosedive.

Recent Examples on the Web

Temperatures this weekend are about to take a nosedive, from the upper 90s across the Central Valley and Southern California down into the 70s or even lower. — Sean MacAday, Sacbee.com, 9 Oct. 2026

Trust took another nosedive when OpenAI’s agents attacked Hugging Face this summer and, in a world-first, a rogue model hacked the Australian Government’s website. — Yerbol Orynbayev, Fortune, 3 Oct. 2026

The attack sent the Boeing 737 MAX into a nosedive that shed 15,000 feet in under a minute, ripping part of the rudder from its tail. — Mohammed Sergie, semafor.com, 1 Oct. 2026

Flydubai Flight 1073 began a sharp descent from 34,000 feet roughly two hours and 20 minutes after takeoff, and briefly entered a nosedive over the desert near the Saudi Arabia-Jordan border. — Gerry Shih, Washington Post, 30 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1912, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for nosedive

• overdrive
• alive
• archive
• arrive
• beehive
• connive
• contrive
• deprive
• derive
• khedive
• revive
• survive

Kids Definition

nosedive

1 of 2 noun

nose·​dive ˈnōz-ˌdīv 

1

: a downward nose-first plunge (as of an airplane)

2

: a sudden extreme drop (as in prices)

nose-dive

2 of 2 verb

nose-dived; nose-diving

: to plunge suddenly or sharply