credit crunch

British  

noun

1. informal a period during which there is a sudden reduction in the availability of credit from banks and other lenders

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Example Sentences

Cass is dismissive of “debt refinancings,” but some of us are old enough to remember the 2008 credit crunch when businesses had trouble issuing commercial paper.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 18, 2026

He warns that a credit crunch or pullback in sentiment such as seen the early 2000s would see a lot of that spending by those companies drop fairly fast.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 16, 2025

“I do not currently see the potential for private credit to contribute to an unexpected credit crunch in the same way that the asset-backed commercial paper market did in 2008,” she said.

From Barron's • Nov. 20, 2025

That was more than double any other response, including fears of a possible credit crunch or a broadening of the wars in Ukraine or the Middle East.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 25, 2024

Further, for the untold number of hard-working, responsible American workers and businessmen and women who've been forced to go without needed bank loans, the banking credit crunch must end.

From State of the Union Address by Bush, George