deficit spending

noun

: the spending of public funds raised by borrowing rather than by taxation

Examples of deficit spending in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Trump, despite his populist rhetoric, deficit spending, and support for market-distorting tariffs, has sold himself as a pro-business candidate. —

Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2024 Inflation and high prices result from deficit spending and government red tape. —

The Denver Post, 11 Oct. 2024 The German government, meanwhile, could unilaterally engineer a rise in domestic wages (by, say, strengthening unions’ bargaining rights) and increase deficit spending. —

Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs, 17 Oct. 2016 Congress spent trillions during the pandemic and makes the problem worse through annual deficit spending – adding $2 trillion this year and another $2 trillion next year to the overall debt. —

The Denver Post, 11 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for deficit spending

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of deficit spending was in 1938

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Deficit spending.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deficit%20spending. Accessed 9 Nov. 2024.

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