Peaks & troughs

20 words

1. 1

   peaknoun / verb/piːk/

   the highest point or level reached

   “Car sales peaked in 2010 before falling the next year.”

2. 2

   reach a peakverb phrase/riːtʃ ə piːk/

   to get to the highest point or level

   “The temperature reached a peak of 35°C in July.”

3. 3

   troughnoun/traʊf/

   the lowest point or level reached

   “The index hit a trough in 2009 after the crisis.”

4. 4

   hit a lowverb phrase/hɪt ə loʊ/

   to reach the lowest point

   “Housing prices hit a low in 2012 before starting to recover.”

5. 5

   dipverb / noun/dɪp/

   a small or temporary decrease

   “Profits dipped slightly in June but recovered in July.”

6. 6

   plummetverb/ˈplʌmɪt/

   to fall steeply and quickly

   “Share prices plummeted after the announcement.”

7. 7

   fluctuateverb/ˈflʌktʃueɪt/

   to change level up and down over time, not in a steady way

   “Monthly sales fluctuated throughout the year.”

8. 8

   increaseverb / noun/ɪnˈkriːs/

   to become larger in number or amount; an amount that becomes larger

   “Car ownership increased steadily between 2005 and 2010.”

9. 9

   declineverb / noun/dɪˈklaɪn/

   to become smaller in amount or number; a reduction in amount or number

   “Oil consumption declined steadily after 2012.”

10. 10

    surgeverb / noun/sɜːdʒ/

    a sudden large increase (verb: to increase suddenly and strongly)

    “There was a surge in online orders after the advertisement aired.”

11. 11

    soarverb/sɔː/

    to rise very quickly to a high level

    “House prices soared in the city centre over the decade.”

12. 12

    spikenoun / verb/spaɪk/

    a sudden large increase, often short-lived (verb: to increase sharply and briefly)

    “There was a spike in website traffic immediately after the news broke.”

13. 13

    plungeverb/plʌndʒ/

    to fall steeply and suddenly

    “After the scandal, the stock price plunged overnight.”

14. 14

    remain steadyverb phrase/rɪˈmeɪn ˈstedi/

    to stay at a similar level without significant change

    “After April the rate remained steady at about 3%.”

15. 15

    rocketverb/ˈrɒkɪt/

    to increase extremely quickly and by a large amount

    “After the merger, the company's market share rocketed.”

16. 16

    plateauverb / noun/plæˈtəʊ/

    to reach a level at which there is little or no change after a period of increase or decline

    “After rapid growth, sales plateaued for two years.”

17. 17

    stabilizeverb/ˈsteɪbəlaɪz/

    to become or make something steady and less likely to change

    “Inflation stabilized after the central bank's measures.”

18. 18

    level offphrasal verb/ˈlevəl ˈɒf/

    to stop rising or falling and stay at the same level

    “After two quarters of growth, sales levelled off.”

19. 19

    reboundverb/rɪˈbaʊnd/

    to increase again after a drop

    “After two months of decline, consumer spending rebounded in March.”

20. 20

    bottom outphrasal verb/ˈbɒtəm aʊt/

    to reach the lowest point before starting to rise again

    “The market bottomed out in February and recovered thereafter.”