diminishing returns
plural noun
1
: a rate of yield that beyond a certain point fails to increase in proportion to additional investments of labor or capital
2
: benefits that beyond a certain point fail to increase in proportion to extended efforts
Examples of diminishing returns in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Yet for many enterprises, this growing investment delivers diminishing returns.
—
CBS News, 22 Jan. 2026
Researchers found that increasing the finger count from three to five improved the hand’s crawling efficiency, but adding more beyond that resulted in diminishing returns.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 22 Jan. 2026
Each 40-ish minute episode following the premiere delivers diminishing returns, Elba can only beg people to listen to him so many times before growing monotonous, and when the train creeps to a polite stop at its final destination, there’s little suspense to the resolution and even less sense.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 14 Jan. 2026
This breakthrough piece introduced a mode that Koubi has repeated in subsequent works with somewhat diminishing returns.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 19 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for diminishing returns
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
CBS News, 22 Jan. 2026
Researchers found that increasing the finger count from three to five improved the hand’s crawling efficiency, but adding more beyond that resulted in diminishing returns.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 22 Jan. 2026
Each 40-ish minute episode following the premiere delivers diminishing returns, Elba can only beg people to listen to him so many times before growing monotonous, and when the train creeps to a polite stop at its final destination, there’s little suspense to the resolution and even less sense.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 14 Jan. 2026
This breakthrough piece introduced a mode that Koubi has repeated in subsequent works with somewhat diminishing returns.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 19 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for diminishing returns
Cite this Entry
“Diminishing returns.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diminishing%20returns. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
