letdown

or let-down

[ let-doun ]

See synonyms for letdown on Thesaurus.com

noun

a decrease in volume, force, energy, etc.: a letdown in sales; a general letdown of social barriers.
disillusionment, discouragement, or disappointment: The job was a letdown.

depression; deflation: He felt a terrible letdown at the end of the play.
the accelerated movement of milk into the mammary glands of lactating mammals upon stimulation, as by massage or suckling.
Aeronautics. the descent of an aircraft from a higher to a lower altitude preparatory to making an approach and landing or to making a target run or the like.

Origin of letdown

First recorded in 1760–70; noun use of verb phrase let down

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use letdown in a sentence

But it was a bit of a let-down after getting all warmed up, you know.
Dave Dawson on the Russian Front | R. Sidney Bowen
After the hanging a temporary reaction took place--a let-down from the hectic, fevered agitations of preceding days.
Port O' Gold | Louis John Stellman
It was a little let-down to this exalted condition that it had to come within the social bonds of their common every-day lives.
Was It Right to Forgive? | Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
Were you so tired of a little useful work that ye maun greet a let-down with such early rising?
The Snow-Burner | Henry Oyen
He had gone on hoping from day to day that Barker might not notice the "let-down" in her work, and now the blow had fallen.
Polly of the Circus | Margaret Mayo

British Dictionary definitions for let down

let down

verb(tr, mainly adverb)

(also preposition) to lower
to fail to fulfil the expectations of (a person); disappoint

to undo, shorten, and resew (the hem) so as to lengthen (a dress, skirt, etc)
to untie (long hair that is bound up) and allow to fall loose
to deflate: to let down a tyre

nounletdown

a disappointment
the gliding descent of an aircraft in preparation for landing

the release of milk from the mammary glands following stimulation by the hormone oxytocin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with letdown

letdown

Cause to descend, lower, as in They let down the sails. [Mid-1100s]

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