ENGLISH
REFERENCE

diminishing returns

idiom
Meaning

A condition in which additional inputs into an organization, project or process produce progressively fewer or lower-quality additional outputs, and may, in extreme cases, cause the total quantity or quality of outputs to decrease.


Examples
SIMPLE

Working longer hours often leads to diminishing returns.

CONTEXTUAL

We studied for six hours, but eventually hit a point of diminishing returns where we stopped learning anything new.

COMPLEX

The company increased its advertising budget significantly, yet the campaign suffered from diminishing returns as the market became saturated and consumer interest plateaued.

Anchors to
Related idioms2entries
  1. 01

    many happy returns

    A greeting, usually for birthdays, in reference to the passing year; Happy birthday!

  2. 02

    returns to scale

    a function describing how returns scale when production increases in the long run

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