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slowdown

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Etymology and origin of the English word slowdown

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1882 Daily Republican-Sentinel (Milwaukee)
Ultimate origin
Old English slaw,dune
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English slow
English slowdown

Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈsloʊˌdaʊn/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English slow + down, from the phrasal verb slow down.[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the earlier noun slow-up,[2] and Etymonline records the verb slow up in the same sense by 1881.[3][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of slowing down in speed: 1882, in a Milwaukee newspaper.[2] Etymonline dates the noun to 1892,[3] Merriam-Webster to 1897,[4] and Dictionary.com to 1895–1900.[5]

Semantic evolution

From a slackening of speed, the word passed to the economy: a recession or a fall in growth or demand is recorded from 1922.[2] In the 1920s it also became the name of an industrial protest in which workers deliberately work slowly, used as an adjective from 1919 and as a noun from 1926;[2] this is chiefly American, and Collins notes it as the usual American and Canadian word for what the British call a go-slow.[6][2] Merriam-Webster gives the same specific sense.[4] Adjectival uses for a slowing of speed (1958, also a stalling tactic in basketball) and for business decline (1959) followed.[2]

Timeline

  • 1881 – the verb slow up, to slow down.[3]
  • 1882 – the act of slowing down in speed.[2] Etymonline dates it to 1892.[3]
  • 1919 – adjective, of a protest of deliberately slow work.[2]
  • 1922 – an economic recession.[2]
  • 1926 – noun, a deliberate slowing of work as a protest.[2]
  • 1959 – adjective, of a business decline.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A slowing down; a slackening of pace: a slowdown in traffic near the bridge.[4][6][2]
  2. A fall in economic growth, production or demand; a recession.[2][4]
  3. (chiefly US) A protest in which workers deliberately work slowly; a go-slow.[4][6][2]

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 o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Slowdown.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/slowdown. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·