double-digit inflation

Meanings

1. 1phraseuncountablebusinessfinance

   A situation in which prices in an economy rise by ten percent or more over a year.

   Grammar: Used as an uncountable noun phrase; it takes a singular verb: Double-digit inflation was a problem.

   Patterns

   • double-digit inflation of something
   • hit double-digit inflation
   • bring down double-digit inflation

   The country suffered double-digit inflation for most of the 1980s.

   Economists warn that double-digit inflation could return if energy prices keep climbing.

   Wages failed to keep up with double-digit inflation, so many families fell behind.

2. 2phrasebefore a nounbusinessfinance

   Rising by ten percent or more, used about prices, costs, or growth rates.

   Grammar: Used before a noun as a modifier: double-digit inflation figures, double-digit price rises.

   Patterns

   • double-digit inflation figures
   • double-digit inflation rate
   • double-digit price increases

   The report showed double-digit inflation growth in food and housing.

   Investors were alarmed by the double-digit inflation numbers published on Friday.

   After years of double-digit inflation increases, the central bank raised interest rates sharply.

Common combinations

double-digit inflation rate

The central bank published the double-digit inflation rate for the last quarter.

run at double-digit inflation

For two years the economy ran at double-digit inflation.

tame double-digit inflation

The new government promised to tame double-digit inflation within a year.

double-digit inflation figures

Analysts were shocked by the double-digit inflation figures.

a return to double-digit inflation

Some economists fear a return to double-digit inflation.

Synonyms and how they differ

high inflation

A looser term that can describe any uncomfortably fast rise in prices, not necessarily ten percent or more.

galloping inflation

A more dramatic, literary expression for very fast price rises; it stresses speed rather than a specific number.

hyperinflation

Much stronger: it means price rises so extreme that money quickly loses almost all its value, far beyond double digits.

Opposites

Word family

inflation noun

A general rise in prices across an economy.

inflationary adjective

Causing or relating to inflation, as in inflationary pressure.

deflation noun

A general fall in prices, the opposite of inflation.

disinflation noun

A slowing down in the rate of inflation.

Commonly confused: double-digit inflation or double-digit growth?

Practice

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