growth

From grow +‎ -th. Compare North Frisian greyde (“growth, pasture”), Faroese grøði, Danish grøde (“fruits”), Swedish gröda (“crop, harvest”). More at grow.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɡɹoʊθ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɡɹəʊθ/

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• Rhymes: -əʊθ

growth (countable and uncountable, plural growths)

1. An increase in size, number, value, or strength.
   • 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:

     Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. […] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.

   Growth was dampened by a softening of the global economy in 2001, but picked up in the subsequent years due to strong growth in China.

2. (biology) The act of growing, getting bigger or higher.
3. (biology) Something that grows or has grown.
4. (pathology) An abnormal mass such as a tumor.

• (increase in size): enlargement, expansion, increase, increment
• (act of growing): development, maturation
• (something that grows or has grown): vegetation
• (pathology: abnormal mass such as a tumor): outgrowth, cancer, mass

• (increase in size): contraction, decrease, decrement, reduction
• (act of growing): nondevelopment

• (pathology: abnormal mass such as a tumor): tumor