business cycle

American  

noun

1. a recurrent fluctuation in the total business activity of a country.

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business cycle British  

noun

1. Also called: trade cycle.  the recurrent fluctuation between boom and depression in the economic activity of a capitalist country

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business cycle Cultural  

1. A period during which business activity reaches a low point, recovers, expands, reaches a high point, decreases to a new low point, and so on.

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Etymology

Origin of business cycle

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

business cycle

“It has had a very successful run, a high rate of growth, it’s not as subject to the fluctuations of the business cycle as maybe other things are.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

Sector rotation follows certain patterns throughout the business cycle.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 22, 2026

State Street Investment Management said in a recent business cycle analysis, that during economic expansion, “financials’ outperformance is quite consistent, as they beat the market in 11 out of 13 expansion phases.”

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 14, 2026

While monetary policy is able to address cyclical conditions like a downturn in the business cycle, it cannot address the structural factors that determine rates of employment in the long term, he added.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026

The government   hopes to establish a new growth path that will be less vulnerable to   the external business cycle and will continue efforts to establish   Singapore as Southeast Asia's financial and high-tech hub.

From The 2005 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency