A disappointing decline after a previous rise.

Roget 36: decrease, diminution; lessening etc. v.; subtraction etc. 38; reduction, abatement, declension; shrinking etc. (contraction.) 195; coarctation^†; abridgment etc. (shortening) 201; extenuation.    subsidence, wane, ebb, decline; ebbing; descent etc. 306; decrement, reflux, depreciation; deterioration etc. 659; anticlimax; mitigation etc. (moderation) 174.    ... show more

Roget 509: disappointment; blighted hope, balk; blow; anticlimax; slip 'twixt cup and lip; nonfulfillment of one's hopes; sad disappointment, bitter disappointment; trick of fortune; afterclap; false expectation, vain expectation; miscalculation etc. 481; fool's paradise; much cry and little wool.    ... show more

A change from a serious subject to a disappointing one.

synonym: bathos.

Roget 497: absurdity, absurdness etc. adj.; imbecility etc. 499; alogy^†, nonsense, utter nonsense; paradox, inconsistency; stultiloquy^†, stultiloquence^†; nugacity^†.    blunder, muddle, bull; Irishism^†, Hibernicism^†; slipslop^†; anticlimax, bathos; sophism etc. 477.    farce, galimathias^†, amphigouri^†, rhapsody; farrago etc. (disorder) 59; betise [Fr.]; extravagance, romance; sciamachy^†.    sell, pun, verbal quibble, macaronic^†.    jargon, fustian, twaddle, gibberish etc. (no meaning) 517; exaggeration etc. 549; moonshine, stuff; mare's nest, quibble, self-delusion.    vagary, tomfoolery, poppycock, mummery, monkey trick, boutade [Fr.], escapade.    ... show more

Roget 853: ridiculousness etc. adj.; comicality, oddity etc. adj.; extravagance, drollery.    farce, comedy; burlesque etc. (ridicule) 856; buffoonery etc. (fun) 840; frippery; doggerel verses; absurdity etc. 497; bombast etc. (unmeaning) 517; anticlimax, bathos; eccentricity, monstrosity etc. (unconformity) 83; laughingstock etc. 857.    ... show more