domino effect
nounEtymology An allusion to a row of dominoes in which the fall of one leads to a cascade of falling pieces.
1
The situation in which one event sets off a chain of additional events.
- While the move has, for now, calmed fears of a repeat of a 2008-style domino effect, the merger has left Switzerland with a new megabank on Paradeplatz square.2023 March 22, Philip Oltermann, “Switzerland’s national pride dealt heavy blow by the merger of its banking titans”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 31 Mar 2023:
2
Government, Politics Historical The theory that, if South Vietnam became communist, it would be followed by Cambodia, Laos, and additional countries in Southeast Asia and beyond.
- Related terms
- butterfly effect, demonstration effect, ripple effect, slippery slope, snowball effect