trickle down — spread to lower levels (figurative)
If something such as money, benefits, or information trickles down, it gradually spreads from people at the top of a system or organization to those at lower levels.
Say it like a native
Textbook The benefits gradually disseminate to those at lower levels.
Native The benefits slowly trickle down to ordinary workers.
'Trickle down' is the idiomatic verb for wealth or info spreading downward; 'disseminate' is formal.
Pattern: trickle down (from/to)
In use
- The government hopes that economic growth will trickle down to benefit poorer communities.society
- Some people argue that increased investment in technology will eventually trickle down to improve the quality of life for all members of society.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ The profits trickled down the workers.
✓ The profits trickled down to the workers.
'Trickle down TO' people — don't drop 'to'.
Common collocations
trickle down + to— to employees, to the public, eventually, slowly
Don't confuse it
This figurative sense is different from the literal use of 'trickle down' (e.g. water trickling down a wall), which is more basic and concrete. Here, it describes the slow and limited spread of non-physical things like money or ideas.