slump
verb (used without object)
to drop or fall heavily; collapse.
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slump
American
[sluhmp]
/ slʌmp /
verb (used without object)
-
slumps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
slumped,
past participle, past
-
slumping
present participle
-
to drop or fall heavily; collapse.
Suddenly she slumped to the floor.
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to assume a slouching, bowed, or bent position or posture.
Stand up straight and don't slump!
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to decrease or fall suddenly and markedly, as prices or the market.
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to decline or deteriorate, as health, business, quality, or efficiency.
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to sink into a bog, muddy place, etc., or through ice or snow.
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to sink heavily, as the spirits.
noun
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slumps
plural
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an act or instance of slumping.
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a decrease, decline, or deterioration.
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a period of decline or deterioration.
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any mild recession in the economy as a whole or in a particular industry.
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a period during which a person performs slowly, inefficiently, or ineffectively, especially a period during which an athlete or team fails to play or score as well as usual.
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a slouching, bowed, or bent position or posture, especially of the shoulders.
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a landslide or rockslide.
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the vertical subsidence of freshly mixed concrete that is a measure of consistency and stiffness.
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New England Cooking. a dessert made with cooked fruit, especially apples or berries, topped with a thick layer of biscuit dough or crumbs.
slump
1
British
/ slʌmp /
verb
-
to sink or fall heavily and suddenly
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to relax ungracefully
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(of business activity, etc) to decline suddenly; collapse
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(of health, interest, etc) to deteriorate or decline suddenly or markedly
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(of soil or rock) to slip down a slope, esp a cliff, usually with a rotational movement
noun
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a sudden or marked decline or failure, as in progress or achievement; collapse
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a decline in commercial activity, prices, etc
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economics another word for depression
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the act of slumping
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a slipping of earth or rock; landslide
Slump
2
British
/ slʌmp /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
slumpsimple
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slumpssimple
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have slumpedperfect
-
has slumpedperfect
-
am slumpingprogressive
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are slumpingprogressive
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is slumpingprogressive
-
have been slumpingperfect progressive
-
has been slumpingperfect progressive
Past
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slumpedsimple
-
had slumpedperfect
-
was slumpingprogressive
-
were slumpingprogressive
-
had been slumpingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of slump
1670–80; originally, to sink into a bog or mud; perhaps imitative ( cf. plump 2)
Explanation
To slump is to fall or slouch down. It's also a downturn in performance — a struggling ballplayer and a sinking economy are both in a slump. There are many kinds of slumps, but they all involve things going downhill. If you slide down in your chair, you slump. Other slumps are less physical. If a successful quarterback starts losing games and throwing interceptions, that's a slump. The original meaning of slump, back in the 1670s, was "fall or sink into a muddy place," while the more figurative meanings came much later.
Vocabulary lists containing slump
The Lingo of Body Language
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Long Way Down
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Dear Martin
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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:
When 3 in the afternoon rolls around on a particularly bad work day, you’re in desperate need of a fun sweet treat to get you out of the slump.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
Shares of Foxconn have rebounded from a first-quarter slump as investors shrugged off geopolitical uncertainties and focused on soaring demand for AI hardware, driven by hyperscalers’ massive investments in recent months.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
The U.S. housing market has been in a slump all summer, with buyers finding little reason to jump in as home prices and home-loan rates remain elevated.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
Polizzi said the county-wide slump in TV and film production is partially to blame.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Finn didn’t stagger or slump or drop his head.
From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Appeared in the May 28, 2026, print edition as 'New-Car Sales Slump Deepens'.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Born in Nagoya, Japan in 1955, Mr Toriyama broke into the comic book world in the early 1980s with Dr. Slump, which tells the story of a little girl robot Arale and her scientist creator.
From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2024
His Dr Slump series that started in 1980 became a huge hit, elevating him to a best-selling young comic artist.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 7, 2024
He was expected to release a new mixtape with rapper Ski Mask the Slump God this year.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 8, 2019
The Apple Slump of New England homes was not the "slump-pye" of old England, which was a rich mutton pie flavored with wine and jelly, and covered with a rich confection of nuts and fruit.
From Old-Time Gardens Newly Set Forth by Alice Morse Earle
She slumps over a cloth in the arms of a caretaker with her eyes closed, but rouses when another person brings her what appears to be raw meat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Analysts attributed slumps in Tesla sales in 2025 to be partly due to customers turning against Musk.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
Midcareer stalls often start as early-career slumps and can ripple across a lifetime of earnings, the analysis found.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
Too wet and it slumps into mush territory.
From Salon ● May 25, 2026
David slumps over, and then his body shudders, and shudders again.
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
Despite the country’s booming exports, sales at home in the world’s second-largest economy slumped even more than expected.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
The result: Internet sales boomed in June and slumped in July — down 2.3%.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
They sharply lagged behind in 2008 when stocks also slumped and inflation got very low.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
MI London, who were previously winless in five games, slumped to 23-5 and 64-8 and were on the brink of elimination to their rivals London Spirit.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
The man slumped against the dishwasher was regaining consciousness.
From "Lawn Boy" by Gary Paulsen
With sales slumping, winemakers that once turned up their noses at airlines are competing to get their best bottles on board.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
AstraZeneca shares were slumping while Bristol-Myers Squibb was jumping on Monday on reported deal talks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
AstraZeneca shares were slumping while Bristol Myers Squibb was jumping on Monday on reported deal talks.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
That can make it more difficult for the index to climb when shares of megacap companies are slumping, even if other stocks and sectors are performing well.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 27, 2026
She remembered Babi, white-faced, slumping on the couch, and Mammy, her hand flying to her mouth when she heard.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
