core inflation

noun

economics

: a measure of inflation that excludes items having volatile prices (such as fuel and food) from the price index being used

The Federal Reserve's past emphasis on core inflation, which strips food and energy from the price indexes in order to gauge the underlying trend of prices, has always confused both Wall Street and Main Street.

—James C. Cooper

compare headline inflation

Examples of core inflation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But higher energy costs would erode household purchasing power, likely keeping core-core inflation below 2%. —Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 23 Apr. 2026

And core inflation is coming down. —Eleanor Mueller, semafor.com, 14 Apr. 2026

But core inflation has also been climbing, which is likely to make the central bank cautious about any quick cuts in interest rates. —Scott Horsley, NPR, 10 Apr. 2026

Sweden’s core inflation unexpectedly eased to its slowest pace in more than four years, triggering a weakening of the currency as investors pared expectations for interest-rate hikes from the Riksbank. —Charlie Duxbury, Bloomberg, 7 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1979, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for core inflation

• abbreviation
• abomination
• acceleration
• accentuation
• accommodation
• accreditation
• acculturation
• accumulation
• acetylation
• adjudication
• administration
• adulteration