depreciation
Americannoun
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decrease in value due to wear and tear, decay, decline in price, etc.
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such a decrease as allowed in computing the value of property for tax purposes.
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a decrease in the purchasing or exchange value of money.
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a lowering in estimation.
noun
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accounting
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the reduction in value of a fixed asset due to use, obsolescence, etc
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the amount deducted from gross profit to allow for such reduction in value
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accounting a modified amount permitted for purposes of tax deduction
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the act or an instance of depreciating or belittling; disparagement
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a decrease in the exchange value of currency against gold or other currencies brought about by excess supply of that currency under conditions of fluctuating exchange rates Compare devaluation
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of depreciation
An Americanism dating back to 1730–40; depreciate + -ion
Explanation
Depreciation is when the value of a currency is lowered. The depreciation of the U.S. dollar when compared to the Euro, for example, means that you'll pay more for things in Europe at the current exchange rate. Depreciation is from the Latin word depretiare, which means to lower in price, with the roots de, meaning "down," and pretium, meaning "price." If something goes down in value, then the amount of the decrease is called depreciation. If, for example, you buy a car for $10,000, but a year later it is only worth $8,000 due to wear and tear, then the depreciation on the car is $2,000.
Vocabulary lists containing depreciation
Vocabulary from the Second Presidential Debate: October 9, 2016
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Personal Finance and Financial Literacy - High School
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Economics
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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:
The company said Peacock’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was $189 million.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
The recent quarter’s figure includes merger-related costs from T-Mobile’s acquisition of USCellular, including accelerated depreciation, net of tax, of $146 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Nonetheless, the company maintained its guidance for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization after leases and free cash flow, they note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
As a result of the rapid and intensive build-out, depreciation and interest expenses rose to 81% of revenue in the first quarter, up from 77% in the fourth quarter of last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Prices kept going up and up, and depreciation of the paper money took a lot of the profit out of it.
From "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The gold miner said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciations and amortization more than doubled on year to $2.29 billion, aided by higher production volumes and elevated gold prices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
President Masoud Pezeshkian promised dialogue and acknowledged "legitimate demands" in in a country where inflation soars near 50%, and currency depreciations play havoc with people's hardscrabble lives.
From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2026
Next year also could see corporates taking advantage of last year’s tax law changes that allow 100% bonus depreciations and immediate expensing of R&D costs.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 5, 2025
Large currency depreciations and rising interest rates could also trigger financial stress in Asian countries with high debt, Srinivasan said.
From Reuters ● Oct. 13, 2022
Lord Brougham, for instance, on occasion of a dinner given by the Cinque Ports at Dover to the Duke of Wellington, vainly attempted to raise our countryman by unfounded and romantic depreciations of Cæsar.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 4, September, 1850 by Various
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.
