Meanings
plural Kondratiev waves · alternative Kondratieff wave
- economicsA hypothesized cycle-like phenomenon in the modern world economy, said to range from 40 to 60 years and to consist of alternating intervals of high sectoral growth and relatively slow growth.
1 more example
Each such wave, known as Kondratiev Wave, has all the four characteristics of a business cycle. It rises on the back of new technologies and new forms of enterprise; the expansion leads to a peak, then topples over into a crash and reaches the trough. […] The first Kondratiev wave of the Industrial revolution rode on the technologies of the cotton and wrought-iron industries; […]
1992, Jyotiprasad Medhi, Statistical Methods: An Introductory Text, New Age International, →ISBN, page 335Synonyms: K-wave, supercycle
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA hypothesized cycle-like phenomenon in the modern world economy, said to range from 40 to 60 years and to consist of alternating intervals of high sectoral growth and relatively slow growth.
Origin
Named after Soviet economist Nikolai Kondratiev (1892–1938), who was the first to bring the idea to international attention in his book The Major Economic Cycles (1925).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Kondratiev wave. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kondratiev%20wave
“Kondratiev wave.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kondratiev%20wave. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Kondratiev wave,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kondratiev%20wave.
Source: Kondratiev wave on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.