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• Great Depression
  Great Depression

  noun

  the economic crisis and period of low business activity in the U.S. and other countries, roughly beginning with the stock-market crash in October, 1929, and continuing through most of the 1930s.
• Depression, Great
  Depression, Great

  The great slowdown in the American economy, the worst in the country's history, which began in 1929 and lasted until the early 1940s. Many banks and businesses failed, and millions of people lost their jobs. (See Dust Bowl; fireside chats; Hoovervilles; New Deal; Okies; Franklin D. Roosevelt; and stock market Crash of 1929.)

Great Depression

American  

noun

1. the economic crisis and period of low business activity in the U.S. and other countries, roughly beginning with the stock-market crash in October, 1929, and continuing through most of the 1930s.

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Depression, Great Cultural  

1. The great slowdown in the American economy, the worst in the country's history, which began in 1929 and lasted until the early 1940s. Many banks and businesses failed, and millions of people lost their jobs. (See Dust Bowl; fireside chats; Hoovervilles; New Deal; Okies; Franklin D. Roosevelt; and stock market Crash of 1929.)

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Usage

When and what was the Great Depression? The Great Depression was a worldwide economic crisis that lasted for much of the 1930s. It heavily impacted the United States, where millions of people faced unemployment, homelessness, and poverty. In economics, a depression is a period during which business, employment, and stock market values fall to very low levels for a significant amount of time (typically more than three years). The Great in Great Depression refers to the fact that it was the worst depression in U. S. history. The start of the Great Depression is often cited as the U. S. stock market crash of 1929, but its causes are complex. Its effects were also complex and widespread and are still discussed. Some can even be seen today in the form of government programs and agencies created to address the crisis at the time.

Example Sentences

If there were a Great Depression, there would, ideally, still be Social Security.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 30, 2026

Just like a civilization that had taken peace for granted, the Great Depression revealed the fragility of the entire economic system.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 30, 2026

The roughly two-acre park would be the first to directly highlight the Dust Bowl and migrant farming camps of the Great Depression, state officials said.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

The current turmoil has been compared with the financial crisis of 2008-09, the most serious such episode since the 1930s, when the Great Depression raged after the 1920s stock market bubble burst.

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

He didn’t hear about the stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression until six months after it happened.

From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin