Meanings
- pluralplural onlyeconomicsThe characteristics that lead to an increase in average costs as a firm grows beyond a certain size.
In its application, the company cited “diseconomies of scale,” inflation and the diversion of normal traffic by Laker's Skytrain as reasons for seeking the increases.
1978 June 28, “T.W.A. Seeking 5% Fare Rise”, in The New York Times, →ISSN2 more examples
Growth at traditional organizations eventually hits a point beyond which the firm will “suffer from diseconomies of scale, scope and learning.” By contrast, “algorithm-driven operating models” of the A.I. economy are “almost infinitely scalable.”
2020 January 17, Jonathan A. Knee, “Review: Competing in the Digital Age”, in The New York Times, →ISSNThe capital costs involved in creating such an infrastructure are significant and some of the fixed costs can be diluted as output expands, but there may be some important diseconomies of scale in managing the infrastructure.
2020, Francesco Ducci, Natural Monopolies in Digital Platform Markets, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 90Antonyms: economies of scale
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe characteristics that lead to an increase in average costs as a firm grows beyond a certain size.
Cite this entry
diseconomies of scale. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diseconomies%20of%20scale
“diseconomies of scale.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diseconomies%20of%20scale. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “diseconomies of scale,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diseconomies%20of%20scale.
Source: diseconomies of scale on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.