let-down

Noun

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.
   • 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?2023 November 25, Rebecca Rose, “How old is too old for a profile pic?”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 22
2. The neurohormonal release of milk in dairy cows or in breastfeeding human mothers.
   • The majority of peasant farmers in the tropics allow the calf to suckle before milking in order to obtain a let-down of milk.1990, WJA Payne, An Introduction to Animal Husbandry in the Tropics
   • Occasionally a baby will be caught off-guard by mother's strong let-down and he will choke and sputter a bit.2004, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, 7th edition, Penguin, page 54
3. 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.