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downside

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downside¹

  • /ˈdaʊnˌsaɪd/

Where it comes from

Compound of down + side.

noun downsides

  1. A disadvantageous aspect of something that is normally advantageous. The downside of obtaining a higher rank is that far more work is expected.

    Similar: flipside

  2. A downward tendency, especially in the price of shares etc. The strategy is used both to increase the return on the underlying stock and to provide a limited amount of downside protection.
  3. The side of something that is at the bottom, or that is intended to face downward. An apparatus for heat-treating a flowing fluid, comprising a fluid source; a heat exchange unit provided with a regenerative section, the latter having an upside through which such fluid is caused to flow and a downside through which such fluid is caused to flow subsequent to being heated, said upsi

Opposite: upside

Downside²

Where it comes from

From down (a hill) + side.

proper noun

  1. A southern suburb of Dunstable, Central Bedfordshire district, Bedfordshire (OS grid ref TL0320).
  2. A suburb of Eastbourne, East Sussex (OS grid ref TV5999).
  3. A hamlet in Chilcompton parish, Somerset, previously in Mendip district, near Downside Abbey and Downside School (OS grid ref ST6450).
  4. A small village in Shepton Mallet parish, Somerset, previously in Mendip district (OS grid ref ST6244).
  5. A small village in Backwell parish and Wrington parish, North Somerset district, Somerset (OS grid ref ST4966).
  6. A small village in Elmbridge borough, Surrey (OS grid ref TQ1158).
  7. A rural community of the City of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: drawback, disadvantage, defect, negativity, shortcoming, inconvenience, objection, adverse, worsening, deterioration, degradation, detriment, problem, difficulty, handicap, aggravation

noun

Opposite: upside

Translations

Every language

noun disadvantageous aspect of something that is normally advantageous

Españolinconveniente
中文負面 /负面 fùmiàn, 缺點 /缺点 quēdiǎn
DeutschKehrseite, Nachteil, Schattenseite
Italianoil rovescio della medaglia, lato negativo

noun downward tendency

DeutschAbwärtsbewegung, Abwärtstrend, Abschwächung

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Cite this
MLA

"downside." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/downside. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

downside. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/downside

Chicago

"downside." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/downside.

BibTeX
@misc{downside_2026,
  title = {downside},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/downside},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}