Sentence:  Despite the <WSD>recession</WSD> , Pittsburgh came into town with this imposing list of averages : Smoky Burgess .455 , Gino Cimoli .389 , Bill Virdon .340 , Bob Clemente and Dick Groat , each .323 , Dick Stuart .306 , Don Hoak .280 and Bob Skinner .267 . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  the state of the economy declines; a widespread decline in the GDP and employment and trade lasting from six months to a year