downtime
Americannoun
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downtimes
plural
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a time during a regular working period when an employee is not actively productive.
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an interval during which a machine is not productive, as during repair, malfunction, maintenance.
noun
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commerce time during which a machine or plant is not working because it is incapable of production, as when under repair: the term is sometimes used to include all nonproductive time Compare idle time
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informal time spent not working; spare time
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of downtime
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Let’s not go any further without addressing the underlying question: How much downtime is permissible during the workday?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Taylor filled much of his downtime making more music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
TD Cowen’s Craig Hutchison figures that the two-to-three weeks downtime on top of the nine days since a power outage on July 18 will hit production by 8,000 to 10,500 tons of copper.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
The trick is creating that sense of abundance without requiring too much of yourself during your limited weekend downtime.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
I could only hope she’d read it during her 12.5 minutes a day of downtime, even if she couldn’t resist editing it before returning it to me for corrections and a clean second draft.
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
This assumed that global demand would remain high for the remainder of 2022, the statement cautioned, adding it did not expect major production downtimes due to the unavailability of gas in Europe or missing parts.
From Reuters ● Nov. 11, 2022
But toy sales tend to be resilient in downtimes because parents do not want to disappoint their children, said Linda Bolton Weiser, an analyst with D.A.
From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2022
Naturally enough, I’ve been assembling a pile of books to relax with during the downtimes when I won’t be working on a Major Writing Project that is — sigh — at least three years overdue.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 15, 2022
He’s shorthanded because only three of the 12 servers he laid off during the downtimes have returned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2021
The countries have different vacation periods, which Mr. Williams said leads to different downtimes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 2016
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
