The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) defines a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity that’s spread across the economy and that lasts more than a few months.” 1. That probably sounds like a bunch of gobbledygook. So in non-professor terms, a recession is when the economy goes down in the dumps for about a year.

https://www.ramseysolutions.com/budgeting/what-is-a-recession