stagflation

stag·flat·ion
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UK/ˌstæɡˈfleɪʃn̩/US/ˌstæɡˈfleɪʃ(ə)n/

noun

Prolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth, often with recession and high unemployment.

UncommonFirst used 1965Scrabble 15

Meanings

nounstagflation (countable and uncountable, plural stagflations)

plural stagflations

  1. countableuncountableeconomicsProlonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth, often with recession and high unemployment.First known use 1965

    Moving into the mid-1970s, America's economic performance suffered. Stagflation—inflation combined with minimal economic growth—eroded wages and profits, weakening business and consumer confidence.

    2013, George R. Tyler, “Facing Reality”, in What Went Wrong: How the 1% Hijacked the American Middle Class … and What Other Countries Got Right, Dallas, Tex.: BenBella Books, →ISBN, section 1 (The Beginning), page 4
    5 more examples

    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 and history in modern terms is indeed being made. There is another point behind the figures. As I say, production has fallen by 1 per cent. or ½ per cent.

    1965 November 17, Iain Macleod, “Economic Affairs”, in Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): House of Commons Official Report (House of Commons of the United Kingdom), volume 720, London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Apr 2024, column 1165

    As soon as we understand how involuntary unemployment can result from rational and well-informed individual behavior, it also becomes obvious how inflation and unemployment—which we once thought could not occur simultaneously—can be combined, as they have been in the recent stagflation.

    1982, Mancur Olson, “The Questions, and the Standards a Satisfactory Answer Must Meet”, in The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities, New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 8

    Since no one had the solutions to stagflation, [Jimmy] Carter, a fiscal conservative from the beginning, was thrown back to his personal bias and chose to elevate inflation to the nation's most pressing problem. […] More radical solutions to stagflation, such as direct wage and price controls or voluntary wage freezes to halt the wage/price spiral, were not thought to be socially acceptable. So, in the end the administration acquiesced to monetary stringency and watched its tenure recede.

    1995, Anthony S. Campagna, “Conclusions and Legacy”, in Economic Policy in the Carter Administration (Contributions in Economics and Economic History; no. 171), Westport, Conn.; London: Greenwood Press, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 204

    The UK economy is suffering a nasty bout of stagflation and the prospects appear poor. That is the conclusion financial markets drew this week from yet more disappointing data, highlighting the weakness of the post-Covid economy and the persistence of high inflation.

    2023 June 17, Chris Giles, Delphine Strauss, “Britain’s economic malaise”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2023, page 6

    Stagflation is a period of stagnant economic growth accompanied by persistently high inflation and a sharp rise in unemployment. While stagflation is quite rare—the U.S. has only experienced one sustained period of stagflation in recent history, in the 1970s—it’s become a more frequent topic of speculation. While it's unlikely that the U.S. economy is headed for another bout of stagflation, it's important to contextualize what's happening with the prominent episode of stagflation in the 1970s. […] Stagflation refers to an economy characterized by high inflation, low economic growth and high unemployment.

    2023 December 11, Anna-Louise Jackson, “Is the U.S. Economy Heading For Stagflation?”, in Benjamin Curry, editor, Forbes, New York, N.Y.: Forbes, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Feb 2024

Origin

Blend of stagnation + inflation, generally thought to have been coined by the British politician Iain Macleod (1913–1970) in a 17 November 1965 parliamentary speech: see the quotation.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic رُكُود تَضَخُّمِي
  • رُكُود تَضَخُّمِي (rukūd taḍaḵḵumī)prolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Basque estanflazio
  • estanflazioprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Bulgarian стагфлация
  • стагфлация (stagflacija)prolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Catalan estagflació
  • estagflacióprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Chinese Mandarin 停滯性通貨膨脹 /停滞性通货膨胀, 滯漲 /滞涨
  • 停滯性通貨膨脹 /停滞性通货膨胀 (tíngzhìxìng tōnghuò péngzhàng)prolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
  • 滯漲 /滞涨 (zhìzhàng)prolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Czech stagflace
  • stagflaceprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Danish stagflation
  • stagflationprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Dutch stagflatie
  • stagflatieprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Esperanto stagflacio
  • stagflacioprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Estonian stagflatsioon
  • stagflatsioonprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Finnish stagflaatio
  • stagflaatioprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
French stagflation
  • stagflationprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
German Stagflation
  • Stagflationprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Greek στασιμοπληθωρισμός
  • στασιμοπληθωρισμός (stasimoplithorismós)prolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Hebrew סטגפלציה
  • סטגפלציהprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Hindi मुद्रास्फीतिजनित मंदी
  • मुद्रास्फीतिजनित मंदी (mudrāsphītijnit mandī)prolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Hungarian stagfláció
  • stagflációprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Indonesian stagflasi
  • stagflasiprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Irish marbh-bhoilsciú
  • marbh-bhoilsciúprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Italian stagflazione
  • stagflazioneprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Japanese スタグフレーション
  • スタグフレーション (sutagufurēshiyon)prolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Korean 스태그플레이션
  • 스태그플레이션 (seutaegeupeulleisyeon)prolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Latvian stagflācija
  • stagflācijaprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Lithuanian stagfliacija
  • stagfliacijaprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Malay stagflasi
  • stagflasiprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Norwegian Bokmål stagflasjon
  • stagflasjonprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Persian رکود تورمی
  • رکود تورمیprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Polish stagflacja
  • stagflacjaprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Portuguese estagflação
  • estagflaçãoprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Romanian stagflație
  • stagflațieprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Russian стагфляция
  • стагфляция (stagfljacija)prolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Slovak stagflácia
  • stagfláciaprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Spanish estanflación
  • estanflaciónprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Swedish stagflation
  • stagflationprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Turkish stagflasyon
  • stagflasyonprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Ukrainian стагфляція
  • стагфляція (stahfljacija)prolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth
Vietnamese đình lạm
  • đình lạmprolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with stagflation

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

stagflation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stagflation

MLA

“stagflation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stagflation. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stagflation,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stagflation.

Source: stagflation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.