A parachute is a large piece of strong fabric that opens up like a huge umbrella to slow down someone or something falling through the air. When skydivers jump from airplanes, they pull a cord that releases their parachute, which fills with air and creates enough drag to bring them safely to the ground instead of plummeting at dangerous speeds.

Leonardo da Vinci sketched parachute designs in the 1480s, but the first successful parachute jump happened in 1797 when André-Jacques Garnerin leaped from a hot air balloon over Paris.

Parachutes serve many purposes beyond personal safety. Military forces use them to drop supplies and equipment into remote areas. NASA has used enormous parachutes to slow down space capsules returning to Earth. Some race cars even deploy parachutes to help them stop after reaching incredible speeds.

The word also works as a verb: firefighters might parachute into a wilderness area to fight a wildfire. When someone parachutes into a meeting or situation, they arrive suddenly, often without much preparation or context for what's already happened.