verb / noun · academic
plateau
UK/plæˈtəʊ/US/plæˈtoʊ/pla·TEAU
to stop changing and stay at a roughly constant level after a period of change
Examples
“After a period of steady growth, exports plateaued at around $5 billion.”
“The graph shows sales plateau between 2016 and 2018.”
“Productivity plateaued despite increases in investment.”
Band 8 sentence
“Following a period of rapid expansion, consumer demand plateaued, suggesting the market had reached short‑term saturation.”
Collocations
- plateau at
- reach a plateau
- a plateau in growth
Word family
Common mistakes
The rate plateau to 10%.→The rate plateaued at 10%.
There was a plateauing in sales last year.→There was a plateau in sales last year.
Say it for a higher band
5flatten out→6remain stable→7+plateau
Synonyms
stagnate
flatten out
Easily confused
stagnate
“After years of investment the industry stagnated and saw no further growth.”
Related words
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In Rate of change
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