slump
Other forms: slumped; slumping; slumps
To slump is to fall or slouch down. It's also a downturn in performance — a struggling ballplayer and a sinking economy are both in a slump.
There are many kinds of slumps, but they all involve things going downhill. If you slide down in your chair, you slump. Other slumps are less physical. If a successful quarterback starts losing games and throwing interceptions, that's a slump. The original meaning of slump, back in the 1670s, was "fall or sink into a muddy place," while the more figurative meanings came much later.
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fall or sink heavily
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assume a drooping posture or carriage
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fall heavily or suddenly; decline markedly
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go down in value
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a noticeable deterioration in performance or quality“the team went into a slump”synonyms: drop-off, falling off, falloff, slacktype of:declension, decline in quality, deterioration, worseningthe process of changing to an inferior state
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a long-term economic state characterized by unemployment and low prices and low levels of trade and investmentsynonyms: depression, economic crisisexamples:Great Depressionthe economic crisis beginning with the stock market crash in 1929 and continuing through the 1930stype of:crisisan unstable situation of extreme danger or difficultyeconomic conditionthe condition of the economy
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Vocabulary lists containing slump
There’s more to language than what we say or write. The things we do physically can say a lot — even without words. And even though body language is word-less, there are lots of terms for describing the gestures, postures, and facial expressions we make when we want to say something without uttering a single word.
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