downside

American  

[doun-sahyd] / ˈdaʊnˌsaɪd /

noun

• downsides
  plural

1. the lower side or part.

2. a downward trend, especially in stock prices.

3. a discouraging or negative aspect.

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adjective

1. of or involving a decline, especially in stock prices.

   The downside risk on this stock is considered far greater than the potential for gain.

downside British  

/ ˈdaʊnˌsaɪd /

noun

1. the disadvantageous aspect of a situation

   the downside of twentieth-century living

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• downsides
  plural

Etymology

Origin of downside

First recorded in 1675–85; down ¹ + side ¹

Explanation

Something's drawback or disadvantage is its downside. The only downside you can see to getting a puppy is having to leave it when you go to school — although your parents may see more downsides than that. When the word downside was coined in the 1680s, it meant "underside" or "underneath." It wasn't until the late 20th century that this word came to mean "negative aspect of something otherwise seen as good." Today, the downside of a puppy isn't its fuzzy belly — it's the hours of training, late-night walks, money spent at the vet, and chewed-up shoes.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

downside downsides

But the risk is that someone looking at a P/E ratio may not see as much downside risk as there actually is, he added, because profit margins “tend to compress sharply” during slowdowns.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

The downside is limited charging capacity and the need to keep them fully charged, so I would only recommend them as a backup to traditional jumper cables.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026

Cold-climate EV owners know battery life and range are a major downside of ditching combustion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

If there’s a downside to stopping in the “hidden valley of enchantment,” it’s the distinct lack of shaded parking.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

The only downside is that in order to keep Dylan’s secret, I can’t tell Elsie how I got the spell book or how I learned to paint illusions in the first place.

From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston

In a statement, the group said AI could become more powerful over a decade, driving an unprecedented economic transformation that could bring downsides but also opportunities such as “major gains in living standards.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

The increased exposure also comes with downsides - such as increased scrutiny.

From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026

The air conditioning units do have some downsides.

From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026

While MRIs can provide detailed full-body imaging, they also come with downsides: The scans are expensive, claustrophobic and can take up to an hour.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026

Yet, more and more, she was seeing that the job had serious downsides.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

Related Words

• disadvantage
• drawback
• flaw
• inconvenience