snowball effect

English

Etymology

By analogy with the way that a growing snowball collects snow faster and faster as it is rolled along.

Noun

snowball effect (plural snowball effects)

1. An accelerating growth of magnitude, including fame, fortune, importance, or danger.

   The success of these women has had the snowball effect of bringing more and more women into the sport over the past few years.

Translations

accelerating growth

• Dutch: sneeuwbaleffect (nl) n
• Finnish: lumipalloefekti (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: эффе́кт сне́жного ко́ма m (effékt snéžnovo kóma)
• Turkish: kar topu etkisi (tr)

See also

• butterfly effect
• chain reaction
• exponential growth
• domino effect
• slippery slope
• positive feedback