Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a chain of similar events.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The situation in which one
event sets off achain of additional events. - noun politics, historical The
theory that, if South Vietnam fell toCommunism , it would be followed byCambodia ,Laos , and additional South Asian countries.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun 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)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[From the fact that a row of dominoes stood on end will fall in succession if the first one is knocked over.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
An allusion to a row of dominoes in which the fall of one leads to a cascade of falling pieces
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Examples
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gangerh commented on the word domino effect
Here is the news .....
The world's longest palindrome was recorded recently when every son and daughter on the planet called, one after another, for their mother.
February 1, 2008