downmarket

English

Etymology

From down- +‎ market.

Adjective

downmarket (comparative more downmarket, superlative most downmarket)

1. Designed for low-income consumers.

   Antonyms: upmarket, upscale, high-end

   Near-synonym: low-end

2. Of, or relating to the less prestigious sector of the market.

   Antonyms: upmarket, upscale, high-end

   Near-synonym: low-end

Related terms

• down and out
• down at heel

 

Adverb

downmarket (comparative more downmarket, superlative most downmarket)

1. Towards the less prestigious sector of the market.

   Antonym: upmarket

   Coordinate term: midmarket

   • 2021 December 15, Robin Leleux, “Awards honour the best restoration projects: The Great Western Railway Craft Skills Award: Victoria Arcade”, in RAIL, number 946, page 59:

     Sadly, by the 1970s the arcade had gone downmarket with brash shop fronts and cheap shops, some of doubtful reputation.

Verb

downmarket (third-person singular simple present downmarkets, present participle downmarketing, simple past and past participle downmarketed)

1. # (transitive) To render or become downmarket.
   • 2011, Ricardo Gil Soeiro, Sofia Tavares, Rethinking the Humanities: Paths and Challenges, page 37:

     If there has been a genuine dissemination of a certain degree of readership, of artistic interest and, very notably, of musical awareness and response, there has also been a 'downmarketing', a vulgarization of culture […]

   • 2000, Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Inside the Olympic Industry: Power, Politics, and Activism, page 147:

     As Rob Plant explained, there is a “downmarketing” process when tourists experience problems with their initial accommodation plans and settle for the next level: for example, from one-star hotel down to backpacker hostel.

References

• “downmarket”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.