Okuzeka
Economics vocabulary · GDP and Growth

Recession

Meaning in economics, with examples

/rɪˈseʃn/nounCore term

In economics, recession means: A significant fall in economic activity lasting months, with falling output, income and jobs; often defined as two quarters in a row of shrinking GDP.

In Turkish: resesyon, durgunluk, ekonomik daralma

How it is used

Economies enter, fall into, slide into or emerge from a recession. The two-quarter rule gives a technical recession; in the US, a committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research officially dates recessions using wider data such as jobs and income.

Example sentences

  1. The economy fell into recession after two quarters of negative growth.

  2. Many firms froze hiring because they feared a recession.

Common collocations

  • fall into recession
  • a deep recession
  • a mild recession
  • technical recession
  • emerge from recession
  • downturnA period when economic activity, sales or prices fall or grow much more slowly; a general word that may or may not mean a full recession.
  • business cycleThe repeated pattern of ups and downs in economic activity, moving from expansion to a peak, then to contraction and a low point, and back to recovery.
  • GDPShort for gross domestic product: the total value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period, usually a quarter or a year.
  • recoveryThe period after a recession or crisis when output, jobs and incomes start to grow again and move back towards their earlier level.
  • soft landingA slowdown in economic growth that is just enough to bring inflation down without causing a recession or a big rise in unemployment.

More terms: GDP and Growth

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level:

This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not financial advice.