diminishing return

Meanings

1. 1nouncountabletechnical

   A situation in which each extra amount of effort, money, or input produces less additional benefit than the one before.

   Grammar: Countable, but in general statements the plural form is far more common: we are seeing diminishing returns.

   Patterns

   • diminishing returns from something
   • diminishing returns on something
   • the law of diminishing returns

   After three hours of revision, I hit diminishing returns and stopped for the night.

   The company kept hiring more staff, but the diminishing returns soon showed in falling profits.

   Adding another coat of paint gave us diminishing returns, so we called the job finished.

2. 2nounpluralspecialistbusiness

   The principle in economics that beyond a certain point, extra units of one input give smaller and smaller increases in output.

   Grammar: Used as a fixed plural phrase in economics, often after the: the law of diminishing returns.

   Patterns

   • the law of diminishing returns
   • apply the law of diminishing returns to something

   In economics class we studied the law of diminishing returns using a simple farm example.

   The model assumes diminishing returns as more workers are added to the same field.

   Textbooks explain diminishing returns to show why one extra worker eventually adds less output.

Common combinations

point of diminishing returns

We reached the point of diminishing returns after the fifth round of edits.

law of diminishing returns

The law of diminishing returns explains why the second machine helps less than the first.

face diminishing returns

Small firms face diminishing returns once the local market is full.

yield diminishing returns

Longer meetings tend to yield diminishing returns.

hit diminishing returns

Her training hit diminishing returns, so she changed her routine.

Synonyms and how they differ

law of diminishing returns

The full economic name for the principle; use it when you mean the formal rule rather than a single everyday situation.

saturation point

Focuses on the moment when no further benefit is possible at all, while diminishing returns still allow small gains.

Opposites

Word family

diminish verb

to become smaller or weaker, or to make something smaller

diminished adjective

made smaller or weaker than before

return noun

the profit or benefit gained from an activity or investment

Commonly confused: diminishing return or reduction? diminishing return or diminishing?

Practice

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