deflation

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of deflating or the condition of being deflated.
2. n. A persistent decrease in the level of consumer prices or a persistent increase in the purchasing power of money because of a reduction in available currency and credit.
3. n. The erosion of soil by the wind.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of deflating.
2. n. In geology, denudation by the action of the wind bearing solid particles.

Wiktionary

1. n. An act or instance of deflating.
2. n. economics A decrease in the general price level, that is, in the nominal cost of goods and services as well as wages.
3. n. economics, euphemistic An economic contraction.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. the act or process of deflating.
2. n. a fall in the average prices of goods and services; -- usually associated with contraction of economic activity. Opposite of inflation. Compare disinflation.
3. n. the reduction of available credit or a contraction of economic activity resulting from or associated with a decline of prices.
4. n. the act of letting the air out of something.
5. n. (Geol.) the erosion of land structures such as sand or soil due to the action of wind.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a contraction of economic activity resulting in a decline of prices
2. n. the act of letting the air out of something
3. n. (geology) the erosion of soil as a consequence of sand and dust and loose rocks being removed by the wind