downturn
Americannoun
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downturns
plural
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an act or instance of turning down or the state of being turned down.
the downturn of a lower lip in a permanent pout.
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a turn or trend downward; decrease or decline.
The new year brought a downturn in the cost of living.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of downturn
First recorded in 1925–30; noun use of verb phrase turn down
Explanation
A dip or reduction in an economic measure is a downturn. If a company makes less money than it did last year, for example, that's a downturn. You'll often find the word downturn in business or economic news, describing the country's entire economy, or the activity of a particular sector of the economy. If car sales decline, that's a downturn, and if fewer homes are sold, it's a downturn in the housing market. Ever since the mid-1920s, the word downturn has been commonly used by economists and business reporters.
Vocabulary lists containing downturn
"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 14
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Games of Deception
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"The Americans: Reconstruction to the 21st Century," Vocabulary from Chapter 14
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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:
Jake Wolfinger, 45, has been weathering the downturn at his feedlot near Lexington, Nebraska.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
The securities industry is generating record tax revenue for New York, increasing the city’s and state’s vulnerability to a downturn, the state comptroller warns.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
"As next year comes round, we might have to increase prices to reflect what we're going through, unless there's a downturn."
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Tesla’s sales decline comes amid a wider downturn in the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
The prediction that the end of the war would send Hampton Roads into an economic downturn proved incorrect.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
However, the larger scale and stronger cash generation of Xiaomi’s internet of things and internet services segments, compared with previous smartphone downturns, should provide a buffer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
He doesn’t seem to be protecting me from market downturns, and his response when questioned is always that the markets will eventually go back up.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
One of the Fed's key jobs is to keep inflation near 2%, a level policymakers say keeps prices stable, supports steady economic growth, and helps prevent deeper downturns.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Over the past 20 years, the S&P 500 has had an average annual return of 11.5%, according to FactSet, despite many sharp stock-market downturns.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
Although intermittent declines in economic activity persist as a problem in our enterprise system, recent downturns have been moderate and of short duration.
From State of the Union Address by Dwight D. (Dwight David) Eisenhower
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.
