deflation

Etymology

It is formed from English deflate + -ion.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The verb, recorded in 1891 in reference to balloons, was coined from inflate by replacing its prefix with de-;^[3][7] Etymonline notes that Latin dēflō meant "to blow away", while in the English word the prefix means "down".^[3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged analyses the noun as de- and the “-flation” of inflation.^[8] The geological sense came separately, from German Deflation, used by J. Walther in 1891,^[2][6][4] which goes back to the Latin verb, a compound of flō (“to blow”).^[8][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The letting out of air from something inflated: 1891, in the Pall Mall Gazette.^[2][3] The Shorter Oxford also records an isolated late 16th-century use, from the Latin verb, for the loss of heat from inside an object.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The geological sense, the removal of sand and rock particles by the wind, is first recorded in English in 1893, in an article by J. Walther himself in the National Geographic Magazine.^[2] The economic sense, a fall in prices and wages with a rise in the value of money, is dated by Etymonline from 1916^[3] and by the OED from 1920, in R. G. Hawtrey;^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged defines it as a contraction of money and credit, contrasted with inflation.^[8] The adjective deflationary and the noun deflationist, an advocate of deflation, appeared in the early 20th century.^[4] A figurative sense, a loss of importance, reputation or self-confidence, follows the verb and is recorded from 1933, in H. G. Wells's The Shape of Things to Come.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1891 – the release of air from something inflated.^[2][3]
• 1893 – in geography, the removal of loose particles by the wind.^[2]
• 1920 – in economics, a fall in prices and the money supply.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense from 1916.^[3]
• 1933 – figuratively, a reduction in importance or self-esteem.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of letting air or gas out of something inflated, or the resulting state: the slow deflation of a tyre.^[9][8][2]
2. (economics) A general fall in prices together with a contraction of the supply of money and credit and of economic activity; the opposite of inflation.^[9][8][2]
3. (geology) The removal of loose sand, dust and rock particles by the wind; wind erosion.^[9][8][2]
4. A loss of importance, reputation or confidence: the deflation of his hopes.^[4][2]

Word family

• deflationary
• deflationist
• deflationism

Related words

• disinflation
• deflate
• inflate
• inflation
• reflation
• flatulent

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins