let-down

• letdown

Deverbal from let down.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛtdaʊn/

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let-down (countable and uncountable, plural let-downs)

1. (countable) A disappointment or anticlimax.

   After seeing all the advertisements, the show itself was quite a let-down.

   • 2023 November 25, Rebecca Rose, “How old is too old for a profile pic?”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 22:

     Journalists aside, are we so used to people looking glossier and younger in their profile photos—whether on social media or for work—that a certain percentage of “let-down” is baked into our expectations of meeting them in person?

2. (countable, uncountable) The neurohormonal release of milk in dairy cows or in breastfeeding human mothers.
   • 1990, WJA Payne, An Introduction to Animal Husbandry in the Tropics:

     The majority of peasant farmers in the tropics allow the calf to suckle before milking in order to obtain a let-down of milk.

   • 2004, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, 7th edition, Penguin, page 54:

     Occasionally a baby will be caught off-guard by mother's strong let-down and he will choke and sputter a bit.

   • 2010, Jan Riordan, Karen Wamback, Breastfeeding and Human Lactation, 4th edition, Jones & Bartlett, page 91:

     Through oxytocin mediation, these afferent pathways become so well established that letdown can occur even when the mother merely thinks of her baby.

3. (aviation) The clearance of an aircraft to descend through clouds to clear air below, or the process of granting such a clearance.

   The flight received a radar letdown from air traffic control.

• let down (verb)