Oct 2, 2008

Slump (Word of the Day, 2008/10/1)

slump /slʌmp/ verb [intransitive]
to fall or lean against something because you are not strong enough to stand
--She slumped with grief.

slump against/over/back/in/into/on/onto etc.
--She slumped against the wall.
--Carol slumped back in her chair, defeated.
--He slumped onto the couch.
--A witness stated that he had seen the driver slump over the wheel immediately before the accident.

to suddenly go down in price, value, or number
--Sales slumped by 20% last year.
--Oil prices slump four dollars as greenback rises.

slump to
-- The currency slumped to a record low.
--The Dow Jones index slumped 180 to 10,098.2, its lowest since this year.

(also be slumped) if your shoulders or head slump or are slumped, they bend forward because you are unhappy, tired, or unconscious:
--Her shoulders slumped and her eyes filled with tears.

slumped /slʌmpt/ adjective
-- For the last two years OPEC has reduced the production of oil to boost slumped prices.

slump noun [countable, usually singular]
a sudden decrease in prices, sales, profits etc

slump in
--A drop in consumer confidence has caused a slump in house sales in 2008.

a period when there is a reduction in business and many people lose their jobs
--The war was followed by an economic slump.
--Stocks in Taiwan continued to fall on Monday in the wake of a worldwide slump prompted by last week's market plunge in New York, causing Taiwan's economics minister to call for investors to hold their stocks.

(especially American English) a period when a player or team does not play well
--The team went into a slump.

landslide in which mass of rock moves as a coherent body
--Heavy rain caused a slump.

in a slump
--The US’ housing market has been in a slump for more than two years.

slumpflation /ˋslʌmpˏfleʃən/ noun
bad financial period: an economic situation in which an economic depression is accompanied by increasing inflation
-- The Chairman of the Fed in the USA says the current situation is not like the 1970s and the slumpflation crisis at that time.