1 A2 neutral
To travel to a place by car, especially southward or to a more rural area (in British English).
"We drove down to Cornwall for the bank holiday weekend."
inseparable
drive down
B1 neutral separable transitive/intransitive
To travel somewhere by driving, or to cause prices, costs, or numbers to decrease.
In plain English
Drive to a place, or make prices or numbers go lower.
What does "drive down" mean?
2 meanings, ordered from most common to least. Color-coded by CEFR level.
2 B1 idiomatic neutral
To cause prices, costs, wages, or figures to fall through sustained pressure or competition.
"Increased competition between supermarkets has driven down the price of basic groceries."
separable
Literal vs figurative
Words literally mean
To travel by vehicle in a downward direction or toward a destination.
Actually means
Drive to a place, or make prices or numbers go lower.
Usage tip
The economic/figurative sense is very common in business and news language. Typical collocates in the figurative sense are 'prices', 'costs', 'wages', and 'rates'.
Words that pair with "drive down"
Natural word combinations native speakers use most often.
prices costs wages inflation rates motorway
How to conjugate "drive down"
The five tense forms you'll use most often.
Base
drive down
I/you/we/they
3rd person
drives down
he/she/it
Past simple
drove down
yesterday
Past participle
driven down
have + pp
-ing form
driving down
continuous
Hear "drive down" in the wild
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Other ways to say "drive down"
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