Instead, it's a case of lowered expectations and drooping confidence.

A. By spring, we should get a profits season that exceeds lowered expectations.

Intel fell 21 cents, to $25.89, the day after it said business was meeting its lowered expectations.

But in typical Limited fashion, they came out with lowered expectations again this quarter.

The lowered expectations change the way they approach their children.

The results beat lowered expectations by 3 cents a share as sales in the quarter fell 4 percent.

A mood of lowered expectations already seems to have taken hold.

Given such lowered expectations - travel, after all, is a game of trying to find more than you seek - I could only leave elevated.

To some, this may seem like the politics of lowered expectations.

If you fail to do so, it's your lowered expectation, not mine.