fiscal cliff

American  

noun

1. a governmental or personal financial crisis that is brought on by economic factors or policies.

   High housing costs have pushed many families over the fiscal cliff.

   Some municipalities are on the edge of a fiscal cliff after years of overspending.

2. (specifically) a financial crisis that threatens to disrupt the economy or personal finances and is brought on by steep governmental spending cuts and tax increases.

   Congressional legislation to avert the fiscal cliff.

---

fiscal cliff British  

noun

1. informal a situation in which sudden changes in government expenditure and taxation have a profound effect on a country's economy

---

Etymology

Origin of fiscal cliff

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

But they are “facing the greatest fiscal crisis of the last 25 years.”

From Barron's • Dec. 4, 2025

The Continent today is careening into a second wrenching fiscal crisis, after the 2010 disaster.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025

Public child care services survived the city’s fiscal crisis of 1975, largely due to the activism of working-class communities who fought against day care closures.

From Salon • Nov. 6, 2025

“For a city that claims to be in fiscal crisis, this is nonsense,” Umhofer added.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 26, 2025

The fiscal crisis that was now impending over Michigan, it was evident was in the process of advance; but it was not possible to tell when it would fall, nor with what severity.

From Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers by Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe