downtime
Americannoun
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downtimes
plural
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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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
The result was a roughly five-hour gap in the summit agenda, a long stretch of downtime during a visit that lasted barely two days.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
Finally, some downtime, with no distractions, to tackle “Infinite Jest.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
He said it had reduced Llanwern's UK market to just 25% and meant that workers were having a lot of downtime with production lines that are not constantly running.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Taylor filled much of his downtime making more music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
He spent what scarce downtime he had writing songs or talking with Lydia.
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
“We’re going to see a traffic jam of patch releases and system downtimes as companies try to apply these patches.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
It intends to use the Siemens Industrial Copilot to reduce production downtimes at its plants.
From Reuters ● Oct. 31, 2023
But toy sales tend to be resilient in downtimes because parents do not want to disappoint their children, said Linda Bolton Weiser, an analyst with D.A.
From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2022
Naturally enough, I’ve been assembling a pile of books to relax with during the downtimes when I won’t be working on a Major Writing Project that is — sigh — at least three years overdue.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 15, 2022
He’s shorthanded because only three of the 12 servers he laid off during the downtimes have returned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2021
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.
