freefall

/ˈfɹiːˌfɔːl/noun, verb

freefall is a noun meaning “A state of motion affected by no acceleration or force other than that of gravity” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-R-E-E-F-A-L-L and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 3 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of freefall is freefalls.

What does freefall mean?

noun

1
A state of motion affected by no acceleration or force other than that of gravity.
2
A state of motion but allowing for the presence of incidental air resistance not caused intentionally by devices such parachutes or wings.
3
A rapid, uncontrolled decline or worsening.
As civil war continues in Iraq, the U.S. president's approval ratings are in freefall.

verb

1
To drop in a state of freefall.
A base jumper attempts to freefall for as long as possible before triggering the parachute.
2
To decline or worsen rapidly and uncontrollably.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce freefall?

/ˈfɹiːˌfɔːl/

Freefall has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-freefall.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of freefall

freefalls plural, present, singular, he/she/it
free fall
free-fall
freefalling participle, present
freefell past
freefallen participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is freefall?

Freefall appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 49,368th most frequent word form in the list.

freefall0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Englishmore common

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Words people confuse with freefall

Also written: free-fall (one word or two).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Freefall in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

Language	Words
French	chute libre (being affected only by gravity)
German	freier Fall (being affected only by gravity)
Portuguese	queda livre (being affected only by gravity)
Spanish	caída libre, caimiento libre (being affected only by gravity), caer libremente (to drop in freefall)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does freefall come from?

From free + fall.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).