deflate
/dɪˈfleɪt
/verb [with object]
1Let air or gas out of (a tyre, balloon, or similar object): he deflated one of the tyres...
- Armed officers, who were lying in wait for the would-be raiders, disabled their van using Hatton rounds - bullets designed to deflate tyres with minimum damage.
- Stranded in the paddy field mud of the Winton track, Ambrose amazed fans by deflating his rear tyres to drive himself out of the bog and back into the race - but only after missing some 20 laps of the race.
- It took police one and a half hours to extract the lorry by deflating its tyres.
Synonyms
let down, empty the air out of, collapse, flatten, void;
puncture
1.1 [no object] Be emptied of air or gas: the balloon deflated...
- The AAIB report says the balloon deflated over the wires.
- And as if by magic, all the balloons immediately drooped, deflated.
- The balloon deflated over the wires resulting in a short circuit to the electricity supply.
Synonyms
go down, collapse, shrink, contract, flatten
2Make (someone) suddenly lose confidence or feel dispirited: (as adjective deflated) the news left him feeling utterly deflated...
- He was totally deflated by this remark and conceded defeat.
- I was deflated a bit and things suddenly seemed really awkward.
- He's a confident character; nothing seems to deflate him.
Synonyms
subdue, humble, cow, humiliate, mortify, chasten, chagrin, dispirit, dismay, discourage, dishearten;
squash, crush, flatten, bring down, bring low, take down a peg or two, take the wind out of someone's sails
informal cut down to size, knock the stuffing out of, put down
2.1Reduce the level of (an emotion or feeling): her anger was deflated...
- Complaining deflates morale, makes you look weak, and creates an environment that breeds negativity like a contagion.
- My pride is instantly deflated and I feel insulted, but I continue because my drive is not financial.
- Getting where they're coming from will probably deflate your anger, so you'll have a better chance of expressing yourself in a way that lets them truly hear you.
3 Economics Bring about a general reduction of price levels in (an economy): the budget deflated the economy [no object]: the government deflated sharply in 1964...
- Well, could inflation soon deflate the economy?
- In return for a bail-out of the currency, it would deflate the economy, impose a statutory incomes policy, and maintain a military presence East of Suez.
- Mr Geraghty argues that pay cuts will only deflate the economy further at a time when it needs an increase in consumer spending power to give it a further boost.
Synonyms
reduce, slow down, make less active, diminish, lessen, lower;
devalue, depreciate, depress
Derivatives
deflator
/ noun ...- This means that the real wage deflators applied to nominal local wages can be very much dependent on the particular time period chosen.
- The GDP deflator, a key inflation gauge, rose 1.0% in the third quarter in the fourth quarter, down from the 1.6% growth in the preceding quarter.
- Even the statistical sleight-of-hand that constitutes the current measure of consumer price inflation is at a nine-year high and the GDP implicit price deflator is at a five-year peak.
Origin
Late 19th century: from de- (expressing reversal) + -flate (as in inflate).
inflate from Late Middle English:
The Latin verb flare ‘to blow’ is the base of inflate, which literally means ‘blow into’. Deflate (mid 19th century) is its opposite.