diminishing return

collocation in English

meaningsofdiminishandreturn

These words are often used together. Click on the links below to explore the meanings. Or,see other collocations withreturn.
diminish
verb[I or T]
uk
/dɪˈmɪn.ɪʃ/us
/dɪˈmɪn.ɪʃ/
to reduce or be reduced in size ...
See more atdiminish
return
noun
uk
/rɪˈtɜːn/us
/rɪˈtɝːn/
an occasion when someone goes or comes back to a place where they ...
See more atreturn

(Definition ofdiminishandreturnfrom theCambridge English Dictionary© Cambridge University Press)

Examplesofdiminishing return

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
Application of the law ofdiminishingreturnto describing the relationship between metabolizable energy intake and growth rate in broilers.
From theCambridge English Corpus
He is now going to see thediminishingreturnof over-taxation.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
Already he has had to reduce the duty on beer, because he was getting adiminishingreturn.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
But there are many principles, and there is always a law ofdiminishingreturnin the application of principles.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
Therefore, there will be a rapidlydiminishingreturnin keeping the polling stations open a further hour.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
At the very least therefore, the law has reached the point ofdiminishingreturn.
FromEuroparl Parallel Corpus - English
Most of these are old buildings, and although we have been successful up to now there is adiminishingreturnon this type of activity.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
There is an inevitablediminishingreturnin the public's response to a crisis.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
He cannot get it from the rich, because that is the law ofdiminishingreturn.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
It is also the case—which all of us know—that there is adiminishingreturnfrom expenditure over a certain limit.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
Has direct taxation not been increased to such an extent that any further increase in the rate will yield adiminishingreturn?
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
Does it mean that the purchasing companies, the banks, who will be picking up this business, will be buying adiminishingreturn?
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
We are possibly reaching a limit where on certain ranges of income we may get adiminishingreturn.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
After a time the rate relief will be adiminishingreturnbecause at any time it could disappear.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
We cannot do this by giving adiminishingreturnto the producer.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
There has been talk of excessive research and, presumably to support this, reference to an allegeddiminishingreturnwith increasing size of research effort.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
If it does not, inevitably the bus service will decline, because there is a factor ofdiminishingreturn.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
After all, if one looks at any kind of business and finds a diminishing amount of business and adiminishingreturnon capital, one looks to a suspect management.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
I hope that as a result of the progress that we make today there will be adiminishingreturnas regards the amount of door-to-door canvassing.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
It is not surprising, in those circumstances of adiminishingreturnand of a rising cost, that there should be more money available than people are willing to borrow.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
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