DOLDRUMS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does doldrums mean? 

• DOLDRUMS (noun)
  The noun DOLDRUMS has 2 senses:

1. a state of inactivity (in business or art etc)

2. a belt of calms and light winds between the northern and southern trade winds of the Atlantic and Pacific

  Familiarity information: DOLDRUMS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DOLDRUMS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A state of inactivity (in business or art etc)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

doldrums; stagnancy; stagnation

Context example:

economic growth of less than 1% per year is considered to be economic stagnation

Hypernyms ("doldrums" is a kind of...):

inaction; inactiveness; inactivity (the state of being inactive)

Domain category:

art; artistic creation; artistic production (the creation of beautiful or significant things)

business; business enterprise; commercial enterprise (the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A belt of calms and light winds between the northern and southern trade winds of the Atlantic and Pacific

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("doldrums" is a kind of...):

air current; current of air; wind (air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure)

 Context examples 

“This is as dull as the doldrums. Gray, whistle for a wind.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The day the Mariposa entered the doldrums, Martin was more miserable than ever.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I understood quite a good deal of First Principles, but his Biology took the wind out of my sails, and his Psychology left me butting around in the doldrums for many a day.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)