Downside

How to spell downside

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce downside

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does downside mean?

1. nounThe negative or less favourable aspect of a situation or choice.

Downside in a sentence

• The main downside of the new job is the long commute.

• Living in the city centre has one obvious downside: the noise.

Where does downside come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent native English compound, joining 'down' and 'side', both of which trace back to Old English. 'Down' comes from the Old English 'dun', meaning a hill, which through the phrase 'of dune' (off the hill) developed into the sense of moving lower; 'side' descends from the Old English 'side', meaning a flank or surface. Combined, 'downside' literally describes the lower side or underside of something, and that physical meaning appeared first. The now-dominant figurative sense, the negative or unfavourable aspect of a situation, grew in the twentieth century, especially in business and financial talk where it stands opposite to 'upside'. Because both halves of the compound are ordinary, frequently written words, the spelling holds few surprises for a fluent adult.

How the word is built

• down (adverb/preposition meaning lower)
• side (face or aspect)