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:
It’s also big enough for basketball games, and Brundo recently painted a full court on the asphalt so singer The Weeknd could play ball during downtime.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
“Hands down, the EV can win on energy cost, but we still have to make sure we don’t give those savings back through downtime and lost utilization,” Burke said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
However, manufacturing activity retreated for the first time in four months, in part thanks to unplanned downtime at a petroleum refinery in southwestern Ontario that resulted in lower output of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 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
My mother and sister are home for 18:00—Reflection, a half hour of downtime before dinner.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
“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
Greg Becker, SVB’s chief executive, was given to enthusiastic pronouncements on the prospects of start-ups and tech firms, even in recent downtimes.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 2, 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
Since March 14, production has been at a standstill at its truck plants in Munich and Krakow, and it has seen significant production downtimes in Nuremberg, Salzgitter and Wittlich, MAN said.
From Reuters ● Mar. 30, 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
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
