bust

/bʌst/ noun [C] ECONOMICS, FINANCE

Definition

› a period of slow economic activity and lack of growth: Each of the previous booms in real house prices was followed by a bust. Employment soared during the 90s, only to plunge by nearly a third in the bust. the dot-com/housing/oil bust → Compare boom noun

› informal a failure: Our attempt to start a new company was a complete bust.

→ See also boom and bust → See Note boom and bust

(Definition of bust noun from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Focus on the pronunciation of bust