bear market

6 synonyms and 3 antonyms for bear market, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.

Noun — A period in which the prices of shares or other investments fall substantially and stay down, commonly counted from the point where prices have dropped about twenty per cent below a recent peak.

Synonyms

Less common

Still standard English, but they carry more weight.

slump

Rare, literary or technical

Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.

market downturn market decline sell-off bearish down-market

Synonyms by Meaning

1. noun

A period in which the prices of shares or other investments fall substantially and stay down, commonly counted from the point where prices have dropped about twenty per cent below a recent peak.

“The index slipped into a bear market after four months of steady losses.”

market downturn slump market decline sell-off

Opposites

bull market

2. adjective attributive

Describing behaviour, sentiment or conditions belonging to such a falling market. Usually written as bear-market before a noun.

“It was classic bear-market behaviour: everybody selling on the same headline.”

bearish down-market

Opposites

bull-market bullish

How to use bear market

The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.

enter a bear market brutal bear market bear-market rally the last bear market

Standard journalistic and financial usage in all registers. Its opposite, bull market, is used just as freely.

Etymology

From bear, long used in English stock-market slang for someone selling in expectation of falling prices, plus market.

Full origin of bear market →

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a bear market and a correction?

Both describe falling prices, and the usual dividing line is depth. A drop of roughly ten per cent from a recent high is generally called a correction; once the fall reaches about twenty per cent, commentators start calling it a bear market. The figures are conventions used by the financial press, not official definitions.

Why is a falling market called a bear?

Bear was already stock-exchange slang in English for a trader betting on prices going down long before bull became its standard opposite. Popular explanations involving bears swiping downwards with their paws are memorable, but they are folk explanations rather than documented history.

Does a bear market mean a recession?

No. A bear market is about the price of investments; a recession is about the wider economy shrinking. The two often overlap and share causes, but share prices can fall sharply while the economy keeps growing, and the reverse can happen too.

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