business cycle

American

noun

a recurrent fluctuation in the total business activity of a country.

business cycle British

noun

Also called: trade cycle. the recurrent fluctuation between boom and depression in the economic activity of a capitalist country

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

business cycle Cultural

A period during which business activity reaches a low point, recovers, expands, reaches a high point, decreases to a new low point, and so on.

Etymology

Origin of business cycle

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

For EPB, this is the standout leading indicator of the economy’s wellbeing and to all intents and purposes, “housing is the business cycle”.

From MarketWatch

While monetary policy is able to address cyclical conditions like a downturn in the business cycle, it cannot address the structural factors that determine rates of employment in the long term, he added.

From The Wall Street Journal

Founders including Huu and Vinh said the current downturn is part of a natural business cycle, and stronger firms would eventually emerge offering better products.

From Barron's

“What you want is to have monetary policy that’s attuned to the business cycle,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal

For Charles Dow, the volatile financial landscape around the turn of the 20th century largely reflected business cycles that drove ebbs and flows in corporate profits.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023