slump

Meaning

Verb

1. (intransitive) To collapse heavily or helplessly.
2. (intransitive) To decline or fall off in activity or performance.
3. (intransitive) To slouch or droop.
4. (transitive) To lump; to throw together messily.
5. To fall or sink suddenly through or in, when walking on a surface, as on thawing snow or ice, a bog, etc.
6. (slang, transitive) To cause to collapse; to hit hard; to render unconscious; to kill.

Noun

1. A heavy or helpless collapse; a slouching or drooping posture; a period of poor activity or performance, especially an extended period.
2. (broadly, slang) A heavy or helpless collapse; a slouching or drooping posture; a period of poor activity or performance, especially an extended period.
3. A measure of the fluidity of freshly mixed concrete, based on how much the concrete formed in a standard slump cone sags when the cone is removed.
4. A form of mass wasting in which a coherent mass of loosely consolidated materials or a rock layer moves a short distance down a slope.
5. (broadly) A crater or depression (an area where the ground slumps) which forms as a result of such wasting. (A large crater is colloquially called a megaslump.)
6. (UK, dialectal) A boggy place.
7. (Scotland) The noise made by anything falling into a hole, or into a soft, miry place.
8. (Scotland) The gross amount; the mass; the lump.
9. A cobbler-like dessert cooked on a stove.

Synonyms

collapse

depression

fall

recession

decline

sink

sag

tumble

crash

drop

slouch

fall off

slumping

subside

economic crisis

falling off

correct

flop

drop-off

go down

slack

downturn

topple

slip

falloff

slide down

fall down

fall in

fall in prices

give out

implode

lump

meltdown

non-event

prostration

ruination

slam

slide

sliding

slipping

slowdown

snap

spill

stagnation

submerge

submerse

subsidence

become bent

wane

weaken

Translations

crollare

Preissturz

Baisse

Sturz

depresión

crollo

Depression

effondrement

crisi

bajón

βυθίζομαι

Stagnation

Fallen

hineinplumpsen

κατρακυλώ

Pronounced as (IPA)

/slʌmp/

Etymology

Cognate with Danish: slumpe

Cognate with Norwegian: slumpe

Cognate with Swedish: slumpa

Cognate with German: schlumpen

Cognate with Dutch: slompen

In summary

Probably of North Germanic origin: compare Danish slumpe (“to stumble upon by chance”), Norwegian slumpe (“happen by chance”), Norwegian slumpa (“happen by chance”), Swedish slumpa (“randomize; to sell off”), Swedish slump (“chance, randomness, happenstance”). Compare also German schlumpen (“to trail; draggle; be sloppy”), dialectal Dutch slompen (“to walk clumsily”).