downside

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈdaʊnsaɪd/ UK /ˈdaʊnsaɪd/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
the negative aspect or drawback of something

The only downside of the job is the lengthy commute.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the negative aspect or... drawback disadvantage negative detriment liability catch snag

Opposites

upside advantage benefit plus

Word family

Related forms downward down

Etymology

A compound of 'down' + 'side', originally a literal lower side; the figurative 'negative aspect' sense is 20th-century American.

dūne Old English sīde Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

# downside

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈdaʊnsaɪd
**IPA (UK):** ˈdaʊnsaɪd

## Meanings
1. the negative aspect or drawback of something

## Examples
- The only downside of the job is the lengthy commute.

## Synonyms
- drawback
- disadvantage
- negative
- detriment
- liability
- catch
- snag

## Antonyms
- upside
- advantage
- benefit
- plus

## Related Forms
- downward
- down

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: dūne
- Root: sīde

## Etymology
A compound of 'down' + 'side', originally a literal lower side; the figurative 'negative aspect' sense is 20th-century American.

## AI Etymology
Downside is a compound of 'down' + 'side', originally a literal lower side; the figurative 'negative aspect' sense is 20th-century American. The ancestry passes through Old English dūne and Old English sīde. In present use as a noun, it means "the negative aspect or drawback of something", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. The figurative development named in the history lets the word move from a concrete base into a broader descriptive use. Related words include downward and down.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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downside

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