letdown

or let-down

[ let-doun ]

noun

1. a decrease in volume, force, energy, etc.:

   a letdown in sales; a general letdown of social barriers.

2. disillusionment, discouragement, or disappointment:

   The job was a letdown.

3. depression; deflation:

   He felt a terrible letdown at the end of the play.

4. the accelerated movement of milk into the mammary glands of lactating mammals upon stimulation, as by massage or suckling.
5. Aeronautics. the descent of an aircraft from a higher to a lower altitude preparatory to making an approach and landing or to making a target run or the like.

Word History and Origins

Origin of letdown¹

First recorded in 1760–70; noun use of verb phrase let down

Example Sentences

It was an unprecedented public involvement in the normally secret negotiations, and it was a painful letdown for many that you could see coming hours before it happened.

From Voice of San Diego

So many times through the first 18 games of the season, the Wizards have come out on the wrong end of these fights, mostly because of a defensive letdown.

From Washington Post

If there’s a letdown of behaviors, it’s going to find a way.

From Washington Post

It doesn’t fly around like a drone, though, so it’s kind of a letdown after the previous announcement.

From Popular-Science

When I came back, I just knew that it would feel a bit like a letdown after having had the chance to play in Australia for a full season.

From Quanta Magazine

Over the next couple of years, though, some felt a letdown when they discovered that Borges had written no long works.

From The Daily Beast

Marlow: Only a bit of a letdown up until the final handful of episodes!

From The Daily Beast

Kent Sepkowitz wrote this past spring that other HIV "cures" didn't last long and this one was likely to be a letdown.

From The Daily Beast

After the election night letdown the film jumps back to Christmas 2006.

From The Daily Beast

The film is a hard-to-find creature, a smart rom-com that captures the exuberance of falling in love, and the inevitable letdown.

From The Daily Beast

Someone else—Crag was never quite sure who—wanted an exact description of how the Aztec had handled during letdown.

From Project Gutenberg

Knowing that nothing was in sight but waiting was a letdown after the activity of the predawn hours.

From Project Gutenberg

For most people, the experience of hypnosis is something of a letdown.

From Project Gutenberg

No matter how you looked at the situation, the kid was in for a big letdown.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• anticlimax
• comedown
• setback