growth

From grow +‎ -th. 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/

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• Rhymes: -əʊθ

growth (countable and uncountable, plural growths)

1. An increase in size, number, value, or strength.
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, 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:

     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