downtime
Americannoun
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downtimes
plural
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a time during a regular working period when an employee is not actively productive.
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an interval during which a machine is not productive, as during repair, malfunction, maintenance.
noun
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commerce time during which a machine or plant is not working because it is incapable of production, as when under repair: the term is sometimes used to include all nonproductive time Compare idle time
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informal time spent not working; spare time
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of downtime
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Let’s not go any further without addressing the underlying question: How much downtime is permissible during the workday?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Linton fondly remembers the great food in the city and hanging out with friends in other bands while Burch spent downtime skateboarding in L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
The trick is creating that sense of abundance without requiring too much of yourself during your limited weekend downtime.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
In Fort Lauderdale, that downtime was spent cycling in and around their luxurious beach hotel and playing a high-end golf course - the PGA National - before a thunderstorm cut the round short.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
Krogh was hoping to have some downtime that afternoon, but John Ehrlichman’s secretary found him and told him Ehrlichman wanted to see him as soon as was convenient.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
“We’re going to see a traffic jam of patch releases and system downtimes as companies try to apply these patches.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
Greg Becker, SVB’s chief executive, was given to enthusiastic pronouncements on the prospects of start-ups and tech firms, even in recent downtimes.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 2, 2023
But toy sales tend to be resilient in downtimes because parents do not want to disappoint their children, said Linda Bolton Weiser, an analyst with D.A.
From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2022
Undersupply of semiconductors is leading to production downtimes in the car industry and many other industrial sectors.
From Reuters ● Aug. 5, 2021
He’s shorthanded because only three of the 12 servers he laid off during the downtimes have returned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2021
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
