Great Depression

noun

: the period of severe worldwide economic decline that began in 1929 and lasted throughout the 1930s and that was marked by deflation and widespread unemployment
After the 1906 catastrophe, demand for office space caused rents in the Block to spike, and insurance companies and steamship firms replaced artists and writers. During the Great Depression, however, rents dropped again and the bohemians returned.Gary Kamiya
From 1937 to 1938, during the height of the Great Depression, the Farm Securities Administration briefly ran a migrant labor camp in the area.Janet Balicki

Examples of Great Depression in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Biden talked about his blue-collar roots in Scranton, Pa. in describing how the stimulus package had helped prevent another Great Depression. Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 29 May 2024 The close coordination established with Chinese leaders during the Strategic Economic Dialogue helped Washington convince Beijing not to sell U.S. securities, which was critical to avoiding another Great Depression. Henry M. Paulson Jr., Foreign Affairs, 26 Jan. 2023 Gibbons was and remains closely associated with the Art Deco movement that exploded in the 1920s and 1930s, at a time when America was experiencing a Great Depression, but was drawn to opulence. Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2024 Lewis chronicled his struggles with depression and drug addiction, as well as his recovery, on stage and in a 2000 memoir, The Other Great Depression. Dustin Nelson, EW.com, 28 Feb. 2024 America was just coming out of the decade-long Great Depression of the 1930s, and the industry was making some awesome changes, including the development of automatic transmissions, air conditioning and more powerful engines. David Krumboltz, The Mercury News, 7 Jan. 2024 The last coherent response by the international system to a transnational challenge came at the London summit of the G-20 in April 2009, when in the wake of the 2008 financial crash, leaders took steps to avert another Great Depression and stabilize the global banking system. Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Affairs, 3 Aug. 2022 The daughter of destitute Eastern European émigrés, a product of Great Depression and World War II–era New York City schools and their melting-pot culture, Dresselhaus (née Spiewak) as a child imagined that the only career open to her was that of schoolteacher. IEEE Spectrum, 28 Apr. 2015

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Great Depression.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1930, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of Great Depression was in 1930

Dictionary Entries Near Great Depression

Cite this Entry

“Great Depression.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Great%20Depression. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

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