Words / L / Business

lagging indicator

noun/ˈlæɡɪŋ ˈɪndɪkeɪtə/

B1CEFR level
45/100Rarity: uncommon
TechnicalRegister

A metric that confirms a trend only after it has already happened, reflecting past performance rather than predicting it.

Churned revenue is a lagging indicator, so by the time it moves the underlying problem is months old.

Similar: trailing indicator

Topic: Data & analytics in Business English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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