stagflation
noun
Did you know?
Stagflation is a portmanteau, that is, a word that blends two others (in this case, "stagnation" and "inflation"). The first documented use of the word appeared in 1965 in the writing of British politician Iain Macleod, who wrote, "We now have the worst of both worlds - not just inflation on the one side or stagnation on the other, but both of them together. We have a sort of 'stagflation' situation." Macleod is often credited with coining the term, and his linguistic invention was quickly embraced by economists in the United States, who used it to refer to the period of economic sluggishness and high inflation that affected the country in the 1970s.
Examples of stagflation in a Sentence
Sarah Min, CNBC, 17 Sep. 2025
Foreign central banks face similar dilemmas as the European Central Bank and Bank of England contend with their own stagflation pressures.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 17 Sep. 2025
When smoothed over a five-year basis, core PCE reflects price advances not seen since the late 1960s or early 1970s, a period of economic turbulence and policy missteps that paved the way for the stagflation of the following decade.
—Bob Haber, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
New York — Two key reports released Thursday showed the US economy may be in a state of early-onset stagflation — a toxic one-two punch of slow economic growth and rising prices.
—Allison Morrow, CNN Money, 11 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for stagflation
Cite this Entry
“Stagflation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stagflation. Accessed 23 Sep. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share