diminishing returns

[ dih-min-ish-ing ri-turnz ]

noun

1. any rate of profit, production, benefits, etc., that beyond a certain point fails to increase proportionately with added investment, effort, or skill.
2. Also called law of diminishing returns. Economics. the fact, often stated as a law or principle, that when any factor of production, as labor, is increased while other factors, as capital and land, are held constant in amount, the output per unit of the variable factor will eventually diminish.

diminishing returns

plural noun

1. progressively smaller rises in output resulting from the increased application of a variable input, such as labour, to a fixed quantity, as of capital or land
2. the increase in the average cost of production that may arise beyond a certain point as a result of increasing the overall scale of production

Word History and Origins

Origin of diminishing returns¹

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

“We thought, ‘This is a game of diminishing returns and we will be playing grannies.’

From Los Angeles Times

Even if the ploy worked for Tyler, subsequent artists could experience the law of diminishing returns.

From BBC

“One more ad on top of millions of ads in a state like Montana, where the media markets are slim or slimmer than here, does have diminishing returns in terms of impact,” Gavito said.

From Salon

Diminishing returns are sometimes fine if the original was this strong.

From Los Angeles Times

"My thought on going after knives themselves is that it is a law of diminishing returns," Mr Garratt added.

From BBC