Idiom
snowball effect
Meaning
An accelerating growth of magnitude, including fame, fortune, importance, or danger.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Small lies often lead to a snowball effect of bigger problems.”
“One positive review led to more sales, creating a snowball effect that made the small shop famous overnight.”
“The initial error in the financial report triggered a snowball effect, eventually resulting in the total collapse of the entire corporation.”
Examples
simple
“Small lies often lead to a snowball effect of bigger problems.”
contextual
“One positive review led to more sales, creating a snowball effect that made the small shop famous overnight.”
complex
“The initial error in the financial report triggered a snowball effect, eventually resulting in the total collapse of the entire corporation.”
Origin
From the image of a snowball growing larger and faster as it rolls downhill; figurative use from the early 20th century.
Key words
Related idioms
- Level
- B1 · Intermediate
- Updated