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:
Chinese officials had asked the U.S. to build more downtime into Xi’s visit, including a private room inside the West Wing where the 73-year-old leader could rest with only his wife.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
Beijing pared back the schedule and insisted on private downtime for China’s 73-year-old leader.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
He said it had reduced Llanwern's UK market to just 25% and meant that workers were having a lot of downtime with production lines that are not constantly running.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
He is also fresh-faced, because he’s filming the Alex Garland film “Elden Ring” in London during his downtime.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
He sat low beneath a plywood gunnel a navy crew had jury- rigged during downtime in Noumea.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
“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
This assumed that global demand would remain high for the remainder of 2022, the statement cautioned, adding it did not expect major production downtimes due to the unavailability of gas in Europe or missing parts.
From Reuters ● Nov. 11, 2022
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
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.
