law of diminishing returns

noun

The tendency for a continuing effort toward a particular goal to decline in effectiveness after a certain amount of success has been achieved.

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Meanings

noun
  1. The tendency for a continuing effort toward a particular goal to decline in effectiveness after a certain amount of success has been achieved.
  2. economicsA relationship between input and output, such that adding units of any one input (labour, capital etc.) to fixed amounts of the others will yield successively smaller increments of output.
Cite this entry
APA

law of diminishing returns. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/law%20of%20diminishing%20returns

MLA

“law of diminishing returns.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/law%20of%20diminishing%20returns. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “law of diminishing returns,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/law%20of%20diminishing%20returns.

Source: law of diminishing returns on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.