A word for the feeling of falling

Question

What is the word used to describe that feeling you occasionally get while falling?

If you don't know the feeling, it feels like the midsection of your gut is becoming numb and is trying to escape out of the top of your ribcage.

Update: Unfortunately a single word for this feeling doesn't seem to exist. If this word doesn't exist, is there a short phrase used to describe this feeling?

Answer: There is no specific term for this. The closest phrase is in fact 'feeling of falling'. The answer which selected as correct and did state that there is not specific term for the feeling.

Answer 1

The sensation you describe occurs when you're in free fall, as described on HowStuffWorks:

But in the "free-fall" state, there is hardly any net force acting on you. In this case, the various pieces of your body are not pushing on each other as much. They are all, essentially, weightless, each falling individually inside your body. This is what gives you that unique sinking feeling in your stomach.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a specific term for it. (Unless there's a really technical medical term that involves your vestibular system somehow.)

On the other hand, that falling sensation (and accompanying twitch) you sometimes get when you're falling asleep? That's a hypnagogic myoclonic twitch.

Answer 2

I think Vertigo or Nausea are sometimes used to describe that sensation. I also sometimes see weightless being used for that sensation.

---

For roller-coasters, I'd say that the phrase "his stomach lept up into his mouth" to describe the sensation where it feels like your gut is moving up in your body (I've heard & seen this used before in this context). I don't know of a single word for this, although weightless might be close (but it's possible there are other sensations associated with that term aside from this one).

Answer 3

Perhaps "lurching"? It's not perfect, but the other ways I can think of to describe it are all multi-word.

Edit: when this happens I sometimes feel "queasy", but that feeling is not specific to this kind of stimulus.

What is actually happening is that different parts of your body are accelerating at speeds and in directions you're not used to; gravity is working against you. (This doesn't happen in weightless environments.)

Answer 4

The closest existing terminology for this is 'feeling of falling'.

The other vocabulary for illusions of balance/movement feelings are: dizziness (a feeling of movement within the head), vertigo (a feeling of spinning, or that the room is spinning), and disequilibrium (the feeling of falling to one side).

The feeling you get that is the cause of a 'night start' ('hypnogogic jerk', like you're falling in a dream, or falling out of bed), or a psychological effect of anxiety (not an inner ear sensation but a psychological one) has no special technical term other than 'feeling of falling'.

Answer 5

There might be some special medical jargon for it (which I can't find), but I've never encountered a common-use term for the sensation. The sensation is caused by the force of the acceleration, sometimes termed G-force.