# recession

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɹɪˈsɛʃn̩/ · frequency rank #8,977

## Definitions
1. The act or an instance of receding or withdrawing.
2. A period of low temperatures that causes a reduction in species; ice age.
3. A period of reduced economic activity.
4. The ceremonial filing out of clergy and/or choir at the end of a church service.
5. The act of ceding something back.
6. A procedure in which an extraocular muscle is detached from the globe of the eye and reattached posteriorly.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Latin recessiō, from recēdō (“recede, retreat”), from re- (“back”) + cēdō (“to go”). By surface analysis, recess + -ion.

## Easily confused with
- **remission** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/recession-vs-remission)
- **recessive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/recession-vs-recessive)
- **recursion** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/recession-vs-recursion)
- **reversion** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/recession-vs-reversion)
- **repression** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/recession-vs-repression)
- **regression** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/recession-vs-regression)
- **reception** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reception-vs-recession)

## Common misspellings (12)
`ercession`, `rceession`, `reccession`, `recesion`, `recesison`, `recessino`, `recessionn`, `recessoin`, `recestion`, `recsesion`, `reecssion`, `rrecession`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/recession