depression

Period when excess aggregate supply overwhelms aggregate demand, resulting in falling prices, unemployment problems, and economic contraction. Bloomberg Financial Dictionary

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depression de‧pres‧sion [dɪˈpreʆn] noun [countable, uncountable]

1. ECONOMICS a long period of time during which there is very little business activity and a lot of people do not have jobs:

• The current economic depression can be turned around if companies can be persuaded to invest in the industry.

• The nation as a whole was suffering from a period of deep depression following a boom which had peaked six or seven years before.

— compare recession

2. the (Great) Depression the period from 1929 to 1934 during which economic activity was very low and unemployment reached very high levels in the US and Europe:

• The American silk market collapsed in 1929/​30 following the onset of the Great Depression.

• Commodity prices were at their lowest since the Great Depression.

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depression UK US /dɪˈpreʃ^ən/ noun [C or U] ECONOMICS

► a recession (= time of low economic activity, when investments lose value, businesses fail and people lose their jobs) that lasts for a long period of time, usually several years: plunge/slide into depression »

The Thirties saw the world plunge into depression.

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The Wall Street Crash of 1929 brought severe economic depression and hardship to Canada.

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This was a period of deep depression.

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For most of the 20th century, economists focused on understanding and controlling inflation and depressions.

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New mines are being developed and old mines reopened, lifting communities across Northern Nevada out of the depression left by the industry's last crash.

→ Compare BOOM(Cf. ↑boom), RECESSION(Cf. ↑recession), SLUMP(Cf. ↑slump)

● the Depression — Cf. the Depression

→ See Note RECESSION(Cf. ↑recession)