growth

From grow +‎ -th (abstract nominal suffix). Compare Old Frisian grēd ("meadow, pasture"; > North Frisian greyde (“growth, pasture”)), Middle High German gruote, gruot (“greens, fresh growth, shoot”), Old Norse gróðr ("growth, crop"; > Faroese grøði, Danish grøde (“fruits”), Swedish gröda (“crop, harvest”)). More at grow.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɡɹoʊθ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɡɹəʊθ/
• (Dublin) IPA^(key): /ɡɹʌot/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -əʊθ

growth (countable and uncountable, plural growths)

1. An increase in size, number, value, or strength.
   • 1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, pages 431-432:

     It may be that a free society as we have known it carries in itself the forces of its own destruction, that once freedom has been achieved it is taken for granted and ceases to be valued, and that the free growth of ideas which is the essence of a free society will bring about the destruction of the foundations on which it depends.

2. (economics) Ellipsis of economic growth.

   Growth was dampened by a softening of the global economy in 2001, but picked up in the subsequent years due to strong growth in China.

   • 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist‎^[1], volume 407, number 8841, page 70:

     Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. […] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.

   • 2022 October 5, Rowena Mason, quoting Liz Truss, “Liz Truss promises ‘growth, growth and growth’ in protest-hit speech”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     Liz Truss has promised Britons she has “got your back” and set out a plan for “growth, growth and growth” in a conference speech disrupted by protesters asking who voted for her plan.

3. An increase in psychological strength or resilience; an increased ability to overcome adversity.

   Struggle, disappointment, and criticism all contribute to a person's growth.

4. (biology) The act of growing, getting bigger or higher.
5. (biology) Something that grows or has grown.
6. (pathology) An abnormal mass such as a tumor.

• (increase in size): enlargement, expansion, increase, increment
• (act of growing): development, maturation
• (something that grows or has grown): vegetation
• (pathology: abnormal mass such as a tumor): outgrowth, cancer, mass

• (antonym(s) of “increase in size”): contraction, decrease, decrement, reduction
• (antonym(s) of “act of growing”): nondevelopment

• (pathology: abnormal mass such as a tumor): tumor