domino effect

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domino effect

A cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a chain of similar events: the domino effect of increasing the speed limit in one of several contiguous states.

[From the fact that a row of dominoes stood on end will fall in succession if the first one is knocked over.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

domino effect

a series of similar or related events occurring as a direct and inevitable result of one initial event

[C20: alluding to a row of dominoes, each standing on end, all of which fall when one is pushed: originally used with reference to possible Communist takeovers of countries in SE Asia]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Noun

domino effect - the consequence of one event setting off a chain of similar events (like a falling domino causing a whole row of upended dominos to fall)

figure of speech, trope, image, figure - language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense

consequence, effect, result, upshot, outcome, event, issue - a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous phenomenon; "the magnetic effect was greater when the rod was lengthwise"; "his decision had depressing consequences for business"; "he acted very wise after the event"

Translations

φαινόμενο ντόμινο

effetto a catena

domino effect

n → Dominowirkung f → or -effekt m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in periodicals archive ?

As heartbroken skipper Neil Danns (above) mingled with distraught fans TURN TO PAGE 63 from back page 'BeWARe DOMinO eFFeCt..' outside Gigg Lane, Scally believes Bury's expulsion is just the TIP OF THE ICEBERG.

THE POOR GET POORER; Football now warned Bury collapse is just the TIP OF THE ICEBERG

Qatar's decision to withdraw from OPEC is unlikely to have a domino effect within the cartel, Francis Perrin, Senior Fellow at the OCP Policy Center (Rabat) and Senior Research Fellow at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS, Paris) told Trend.

Three reasons why Qatar left OPEC

Escudero further cautioned the DENR on the domino effect of the possible shortage in construction materials, especially cement, as a result of the order.

Suspending quarrying activities could undermine economy -- Escudero

Summary: The Lebanese Eurobond market remained under downward price pressures this week, tracking declines in emerging markets amid rising concerns over the Turkish currency turmoil and its domino effect across global financial markets.

LEBANON BOND MARKET

The resulting population shifts create a domino effect. "Especially when unemployment goes down, companies go where there's a labor force." And the power of millennial is only growing.

3 How Retailers Choose Where to Build

"In the worst-case scenario, the loss of a vital business relationship can lead to a company's own insolvency in turn - the 'domino effect' in action.

'Domino effect' of insolvency strikes one in five North firms

A technical fault in one of the three major dams or the 500kV transmission lines triggered a domino effect and took down the already moribund national grid, suspending work at factories and businesses in the industrial heartland.

Twin cities hit by power breakdown

A technical fault in one of the three major dams or the 500kV transmission lines triggered a domino effect and took down the ageing national grid, suspending work at factories and businesses in the industrial heartland and highlighting the challenges successive governments have faced in getting to grips with chronic power shortages.

Twin cities hit by power breakdown

A spokesman for the Atomic Energy Commission, the tripping that started from the Tarbela Power Plant has a domino effect, causing the nuclear power plants in Chashma, Malian District to trip.

Major power breakdown in Punjab, KP after fault in Tarbela Power Plant

Gradually, a domino effect was produced in which scientists worked towards communicating with an added factor: mobility.

Past in Perspective

WHEN East European countries tried to leave the Soviet Bloc, initially the USSR sent in their tanks, and when some of their citizens tried to escape they even risked being shot; then, when they all considered leaving (a strange domino effect kicked in) those in the Kremlin gave in, even when some of their former East European leaders were jailed (and in Romania executed).