downtime
Americannoun
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a time during a regular working period when an employee is not actively productive.
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an interval during which a machine is not productive, as during repair, malfunction, maintenance.
noun
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commerce time during which a machine or plant is not working because it is incapable of production, as when under repair: the term is sometimes used to include all nonproductive time Compare idle time
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informal time spent not working; spare time
Etymology
Origin of downtime
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.
False alarms would result in unnecessary downtime, while the machine is reset.
From BBC • May 11, 2026
While the industry’s “gold standard” is 99.999% uptime — known as “five nines,” which translates to just five minutes of downtime per year — Anthropic’s core services have recently hovered around 99.1%.
From MarketWatch • May 6, 2026
The folks at the retirement party were glad that he would finally get some well-deserved downtime, but they were also wistful.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026
In his downtime he would travel by horse and buggy across Pennsylvania and neighboring states with what he called his "exhibition": a new-fangled Edison phonograph, a magic lantern slide projector and later on, movies.
From Barron's • Apr. 13, 2026
He sat low beneath a plywood gunnel a navy crew had jury- rigged during downtime in Noumea.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
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.
