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
Gary KamiyaFrom 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
Janet Balicki
Examples of Great Depression in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
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
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
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 16 Apr. 2024.
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