MEANING
Moving against the economic cycle, or acting to reduce its swings between growth and decline.
Use it for
describing spending that supports an economy during downturns; contrasting policy that offsets a cycle with policy that reinforces it; analyzing patterns that move against overall economic activity; explaining economic stabilizationDistinguishes movement against an economic cycle from merely irregular or cyclical change. Writing functions: Change / Pattern / Trend.
Words that belong together
- countercyclical fiscal policy
- countercyclical spending
- countercyclical measures
On the page
The proposal treats public investment as a countercyclical tool rather than cutting it during every downturn.
Demand for the service proved countercyclical, increasing when other sectors contracted.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- countercyclical
Usage notes
Normally non-gradable. Also written counter-cyclical; the hyphenated spelling is an alias, not another entry. Register: technical. Commonness: moderately common in economics (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.