point of no return

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English

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Etymology

The expression originated in air navigation planning. The point along the planned flight path beyond which an aircraft will no longer be capable of returning to the takeoff airfield or an alternate airfield due to insufficient fuel is calculated before takeoff. This is mandatory for overwater flights or flights without alternates on route.

Noun

point of no return (plural points of no return)

  1. (aviation) The point in an aircraft's flight when there is insufficient fuel to reverse direction and return to the place of origin.
  2. The point in any process or sequence of events where some development becomes inevitable.
    • 1959, Roger Burlingame, I Have Known Many Worlds, page 216:
      After Munich it became daily more evident that Hitler had passed the point of no return. With every burst of news from Europe the inevitability of war became more certain.
    • 1999, Malcolm Ludvigsen, General Relativity: A Geometric Approach, page 152:
      However, for slightly larger stars, no such final equilibrium state is possible, and in such a case the star will contract beyond a certain critical point — the point of no return — where complete gravitational collapse leading to a spacetime singularity is inevitable.
    • 2005 September 16, Steve Connor, "Global warming 'past the point of no return'," The Independent:
      A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer has convinced scientists that the northern hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond which the climate may never recover.
  3. (Should we delete(+) this sense?) The moment when orgasm is inevitable.
    • 2008, Rhonda Gate, Dirty Laundry: Aired out the Legal Way, page 108:
      As he pleased Mary to the point of no return, her body quivered
    • 2009, Rolf Potts, Marco Polo Didn't Go There, page 109:
      Tantric masters learn to keep their physical instincts behind the point of no return, and this yields sexual and spiritual rewards.
    • 2010, Anne Mather, The Rodrigues Pregnancy, page 120:
      She was already on the edge of an orgasm, already far beyond the point of no return.
    • 2012, LeKeithen S. Harris, A Billion Dollars in Blood Money: The Lick That Started It All, page 69:
      when she reached the point of no return she released and had multiple orgasms
    • 2014, Davies Guttmann, Fresh: How to feel fresh psychological and physical, page 191:
      find when your ejaculatory inevitability occurs, or your point of no return. This is the moment before orgasm when you're about to explode.
    • 2019, BigPen Expert, BigPen Techniques:
      If you want to be able to enjoy long periods of intense pleasure without ejaculation, you need to discover your point of no return.

Usage notes

Because of undesirable connotations elicited by the figurative use of the term, its use in air navigation has been superseded by the term point of safe return (PSR).

Synonyms

Translations

See also

Further reading

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