downturn

UK/ˈdaʊntɜːn/US/ˈdaʊntɝn/

nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,145 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: downturns

A downturn is a decline in trade or fortunes. An economic downturn.

It is milder than a recession, which has a definition, where a downturn has none. A downturn is named while it is happening and a recession only afterwards.

Definitions of downturn

1noundownturnA decline in trade or fortunes.B2+
“The downturn cost the town two factories in a year.”

downturn is a decline.

Where it comes from

Middle English
doun
English
down
English, today
downturn

Built from

doune · Middle English — down
adūne · Old English — down, downward
ofdūne · Old English — down (literally “off the hill”)
of · Old English — of, off of

From down- + turn. down comes from Middle English doun. From Middle English doun, doune (“down”), from Old English dūne (“down”), aphetic form of adūne (“down, downward”), from earlier ofdūne (“down”) literally “off the hill”, from of (“of, off of”) + dūn (“hill, mount, dune, down”). More at Etymology 2 below. For the development from directional phrases to prepositions, compare dene, dāle, whence dal. Compare also stq, del. Cognate with Scots doon (“down”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

downturn in the wild

An economic depression is a period of carried long-term economic downturn that is the result of lowered economic activity in one or more major national economies.
Economic depression
The Flandrian began as the relatively short-lived Younger Dryas climate downturn came to an end.
Flandrian interglacial
Less orbital eccentricity might have the effect of moderating this temperature downturn.
Flandrian interglacial
Three crows is a term used by stock market analysts to describe a market downturn.
Three black crows
Official statistics showed a drop in most crimes coinciding with the economic downturn.
Post-2008 Irish economic downturn

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the doune family

down

downturn — used about once every 41,009 pages · #14,145 · point at the bar for the others

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