DIMINISHING RETURNS Definition & Meaning

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diminishing returns

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

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

any rate of profit, production, benefits, etc., that beyond a certain point fails to increase proportionately with added investment, effort, or skill.
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

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
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

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of diminishing returns¹

First recorded in 1805–15

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

"And this suggests that the growing development timelines and budgets that are fuelling these longer games have reached a point of diminishing returns," he says.

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Despite claims of success, his sabre-rattling on trade could ultimately produce diminishing returns.

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In contrast, households with a high school graduate earned 8% less today compared with those in 1980, reflecting diminishing returns of a diploma.

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

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

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