Meaning & use
slight downturn
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Meaning
nouncountablebusinessfinance
A small decrease in the amount of business, sales, or economic activity.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a slight downturn' or 'slight downturns'. It is often followed by 'in'.
Patterns
- a slight downturn in something
- experience a slight downturn
- a slight downturn in sales
The company reported a slight downturn in profits last quarter.
Economists warned of a slight downturn in consumer spending.
Despite a slight downturn in tourism, the city's economy remained strong.
Word forms
| plural | slight downturns |
|---|
Common combinations
- a slight downturn in sales
- A slight downturn in sales forced the store to reduce its staff.
- experience a slight downturn
- The industry experienced a slight downturn after the new tax was introduced.
- a slight downturn in the economy
- A slight downturn in the economy made investors nervous.
- a slight downturn in demand
- There was a slight downturn in demand for new cars.
- report a slight downturn
- The bank reported a slight downturn in lending activity.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dip
- A more informal word for a small decrease; it can also be a verb.
- decline
- A more general and often more formal word for a decrease; it does not have to be small.
- slump
- A slump is a serious and usually long-lasting fall, so it is much stronger than a slight downturn.
- drop
- A very common word for a fall in amount; it is less formal than 'downturn'.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: slight downturn or downturn? slight downturn or dropout?
slight downturn vs downturn
'Downturn' alone can be serious and long; 'slight downturn' emphasizes that the decrease is small.
slight downturn vs dropout
A dropout is a person who leaves school or a course early, not an economic decrease.
Practice
The report showed a slight downturn ______ tourism during the winter months.
Choose one answer.
'A slight downturn in tourism' is the correct pattern because 'downturn' is followed by 'in' when you name the area that is decreasing. 'Of' is sometimes used with 'decrease' but not with 'downturn'; 'for' and 'on' do not fit this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “slight downturn”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.