Word.ws English Dictionary

tinkle-down

tinkle-down adjective: modification of the term "trickle-down" to criticize what is felt to be the failings of the latter, with implication that what might be passed down from the rich to the poor is minimal or undesirable.

Adjective

tinkle-down (not comparable)

  1. Modification of the term "trickle-down" to criticize what is felt to be the failings of the latter, with implication that what might be passed down from the rich to the poor is minimal or undesirable.
    • America has been practicing “tinkle-down” economics for years, and it has failed us.2008 August 22, Jim Hightower, “More Tinkle-down Economics”, in Texas Observer
    • It’s called “Tinkle Down Economics,” how prosperity gets passed on to the deserving, who should never look up during these troubled times.2018 November, Ed Spivey Jr., “Deep Breath...”, in Sojourners

Questions about tinkle-down

What does tinkle-down mean?
Tinkle-down means modification of the term "trickle-down" to criticize what is felt to be the failings of the latter, with implication that what might be passed down from the rich to the poor is minimal or undesirable.
What part of speech is tinkle-down?
Tinkle-down is an adjective.

Words near tinkle-down in the dictionary

  1. Tinkham
  2. Tinkhams
  3. tinking
  4. tinkle
  5. tinkle the ivories
  6. tinkle-down
  7. tinkled
  8. tinkler
  9. tinklers
  10. tinkles
  11. tinklesome

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tinkle-down (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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