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• Great Depression
  Great Depression

  noun

  the economic crisis and period of low business activity in the U.S. and other countries, roughly beginning with the stock-market crash in October, 1929, and continuing through most of the 1930s.
• Depression, Great
  Depression, Great

  The great slowdown in the American economy, the worst in the country's history, which began in 1929 and lasted until the early 1940s. Many banks and businesses failed, and millions of people lost their jobs. (See Dust Bowl; fireside chats; Hoovervilles; New Deal; Okies; Franklin D. Roosevelt; and stock market Crash of 1929.)

Great Depression

American  

noun

1. the economic crisis and period of low business activity in the U.S. and other countries, roughly beginning with the stock-market crash in October, 1929, and continuing through most of the 1930s.

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Depression, Great Cultural  

1. The great slowdown in the American economy, the worst in the country's history, which began in 1929 and lasted until the early 1940s. Many banks and businesses failed, and millions of people lost their jobs. (See Dust Bowl; fireside chats; Hoovervilles; New Deal; Okies; Franklin D. Roosevelt; and stock market Crash of 1929.)

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Usage

When and what was the Great Depression? The Great Depression was a worldwide economic crisis that lasted for much of the 1930s. It heavily impacted the United States, where millions of people faced unemployment, homelessness, and poverty. In economics, a depression is a period during which business, employment, and stock market values fall to very low levels for a significant amount of time (typically more than three years). The Great in Great Depression refers to the fact that it was the worst depression in U. S. history. The start of the Great Depression is often cited as the U. S. stock market crash of 1929, but its causes are complex. Its effects were also complex and widespread and are still discussed. Some can even be seen today in the form of government programs and agencies created to address the crisis at the time.

Example Sentences

Just like a civilization that had taken peace for granted, the Great Depression revealed the fragility of the entire economic system.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 30, 2026

If there were a Great Depression, there would, ideally, still be Social Security.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 30, 2026

From Britain’s Townshend Acts of 1767, which helped fuel the American Revolution, to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930, which deepened the Great Depression, tariffs have proved politically toxic.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

Popcorn became the go-to movie snack during the 1930s as theaters sought new revenue streams during the Great Depression, said film historian Ross Melnick, a professor at UC Santa Barbara.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026

It made us feel like the Great Depression hadn’t gotten the best of us.

From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz