Word.ws English Dictionary

vibecession

vibecession noun: a general state of societal pessimism about the economy, independently of whether a recession is currently happening.

Noun

vibecession (plural vibecessions)

  1. (neologism) A general state of societal pessimism about the economy, independently of whether a recession is currently happening.
    • The concept of a vibecession may feel like a cop-out. But it’s a good starting point for understanding where we’re really at.2022 August 13, Kevin T. Dugan, “Are We in a Recession or a Vibecession?”, in Intelligencer, New York, N.Y.: New York Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Oct 2022
    • So, this is my favorite theory: The vibecession prevented the real recession. In medicine, weaker versions of a virus, like the flu, inoculate people against the real thing. By analogy, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his melancholy minions essentially administered an injection of mostly safe gloom...2023 August 3, Derek Thompson, “How the Recession Doomers Got the U.S. Economy So Wrong”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC...

Examples of vibecession in a sentence

  • So, this is my favorite theory: The vibecession prevented the real recession.2023 August 3, Derek Thompson, “How the Recession Doomers Got the U.S. Economy So Wrong”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic...
  • Such negativity has prompted claims that the country is suffering a "vibecession"—although the market appears healthy, good vibes are lacking.2023 September 7, “The pandemic has broken a closely followed survey of sentiment”, in The Economist, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN...
  • "I think we're actually in a worse vibecession now."2023 November 17, Jeanna Smialek, Jim Tankersley, quoting Kyla Scanlon, “Biden Faces Economic Challenges as Cost-of-Living Despair Floods...

Forms of vibecession

pluralvibecessions

Origin of vibecession

Blend of vibe (“an atmosphere or aura”) + recession. Coined by American financial content creator, educator, and author Kyla Scanlon in a June 2022 article.

Questions about vibecession

What does vibecession mean?
Vibecession means a general state of societal pessimism about the economy, independently of whether a recession is currently happening.
How do you use vibecession in a sentence?
So, this is my favorite theory: The vibecession prevented the real recession.
What part of speech is vibecession?
Vibecession is a noun.
What is the plural of vibecession?
The plural of vibecession is vibecessions.

Words near vibecession in the dictionary

  1. vibe workers
  2. vibe working
  3. vibe-code
  4. vibe-shift
  5. vibe-shifts
  6. vibecession
  7. vibecessions
  8. vibecode
  9. vibecoded
  10. vibecoder
  11. vibecoders

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: vibecession (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “vibecession.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vibecession. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.