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• slump
  slump

  verb (used without object)

  to drop or fall heavily; collapse.
• Slump
  Slump

  noun

  another name for the Depression

slump

American  

[sluhmp] / slʌmp /

verb (used without object)

• slumps,
  present (3rd person singular)
• slumped,
  past participle,  past
• slumping
  present participle

1. to drop or fall heavily; collapse.

   Suddenly she slumped to the floor.

2. to assume a slouching, bowed, or bent position or posture.

   Stand up straight and don't slump!

3. to decrease or fall suddenly and markedly, as prices or the market.

4. to decline or deteriorate, as health, business, quality, or efficiency.

5. to sink into a bog, muddy place, etc., or through ice or snow.

6. to sink heavily, as the spirits.

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noun

• slumps
  plural

1. an act or instance of slumping.

2. a decrease, decline, or deterioration.

   Synonyms:

   setback, reverse, lapse

3. a period of decline or deterioration.

4. any mild recession in the economy as a whole or in a particular industry.

5. 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.

6. a slouching, bowed, or bent position or posture, especially of the shoulders.

7. a landslide or rockslide.

8. the vertical subsidence of freshly mixed concrete that is a measure of consistency and stiffness.

9. 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

1. to sink or fall heavily and suddenly

2. to relax ungracefully

3. (of business activity, etc) to decline suddenly; collapse

4. (of health, interest, etc) to deteriorate or decline suddenly or markedly

5. (of soil or rock) to slip down a slope, esp a cliff, usually with a rotational movement

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noun

1. a sudden or marked decline or failure, as in progress or achievement; collapse

2. a decline in commercial activity, prices, etc

3. economics another word for depression

4. the act of slumping

5. a slipping of earth or rock; landslide

Slump ² British  

/ slʌmp /

noun

1. another name for the Depression

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unslumped
  adjective
• unslumping
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• slumps
  plural

Participles

• slumping
  present
• slumped
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• slump
  simple
• slumps
  simple
• have slumped
  perfect
• has slumped
  perfect
• am slumping
  progressive
• are slumping
  progressive
• is slumping
  progressive
• have been slumping
  perfect progressive
• has been slumping
  perfect progressive

Past

• slumped
  simple
• had slumped
  perfect
• was slumping
  progressive
• were slumping
  progressive
• had been slumping
  perfect progressive

Future

• will slump
  simple
• will have slumped
  perfect
• will be slumping
  progressive
• will have been slumping
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of slump

1670–80; originally, to sink into a bog or mud; perhaps imitative ( cf. plump ²)

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

slump Slump slumps slumped slumping

Independent sponsorships, in which investment managers raise capital for each individual deal they back, have grown in popularity as a way to bring in capital during the fundraising slump.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

The presence of Cruise -- a man sometimes credited with rescuing the box office after its pandemic slump with "Top Gun: Maverick" -- was always going to make the film stand out.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

Andy Pages finally broke out of his baffling two-year October slump with a hit so powerful, it sent the Dodgers to the NLCS.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

Chipotle shares, meanwhile, have fallen 11.7% over that period, amid a bigger fast-casual slump and malaise over pricier “slop bowls” that have become a staple in that segment of the restaurant industry.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

The slump of his shoulders stops me from yelling at him.

From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali

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

I was on the trail of Slump and Bemis to head off any funny work on the part of their friend, Farrington.

From Ralph in the Switch Tower by Allen Chapman

The comments made by Broadcom’s CEO at a conference in Singapore have been cited as a reason for microchip stocks’ slumps on both Monday and Tuesday.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

Nike slumps after the retailer misses analysts’ first-quarter earnings target and issues downbeat full-year guidance.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Domino’s has been trying to rekindle growth in its U.S. business as the U.S. pizza industry slumps.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

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

I keep rubbing Bryce’s back until he slumps forward and curls up around Aurora.

From "The Benefits of Being an Octopus" by Ann Braden

While tech stocks and some industrial names tied to the artificial-intelligence build-out slumped this week, the average stock in the increasingly top-heavy S&P 500 made it through a difficult week largely unscathed.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 17, 2026

Seoul jumped more than two percent and Tokyo around 1.8 percent, though they slumped 7.6 percent and 4.9 percent respectively Thursday.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

The AI sector slumped with Oracle, Marvell Technology and cloud-computing firm CoreWeave among the biggest losers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

I want onions slumped and browned at the edges.

From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026

It gave him a strange, off-kilter appearance, like a Parian bust that had slumped during kilning due to some internal imbalance.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

The Minnesota Vikings are also 5-0 after another defensive masterclass from Brian Flores' unit in their 23-13 win at the slumping New Orleans Saints.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

The sports giant suffered an especially big drop in Greater China, a badly slumping area.

From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026

Even the slumping Freddie Freeman contributed to the Dodgers’ 11-hit attack, ending an 0-for-11 slide with a broken-bat single in the fourth then singling again in the eighth.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026

Warren Buffett is stepping down as chairman amid questions about Berkshire Hathaway’s slumping stock price and a $365 billion cash pile.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

“We’re not birds,” said Scruffy, slumping down in his crate.

From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein

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Related Words

• collapse
• deteriorate
• droop
• drop
• fall
• fall off
• go down
• hunch
• plummet
• plunge
• sag
• slide
• slip
• slouch
• tumble

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