Meanings
nounsnowball effect (plural snowball effects)
plural snowball effects
- idiomaticAn accelerating growth of magnitude, including fame, fortune, importance, or danger.
The success of these women has had the snowball effect of bringing more and more women into the sport over the past few years.
Origin
By analogy to a snowball that accumulates mass at an increasing rate as it rolls, thereby accelerating its growth.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans sneeubaleffek
- sneeubaleffekaccelerating growth
Arabic تأثير كرة الثلج
- تأثير كرة الثلجaccelerating growth
Catalan efecte bola de neu
- efecte bola de neuaccelerating growth
Chinese Mandarin 雪球效應 /雪球效应
- 雪球效應 /雪球效应accelerating growth
Danish sneboldeffekt
- sneboldeffektaccelerating growth
Dutch sneeuwbaleffect
- sneeuwbaleffectaccelerating growth
Finnish lumipalloefekti
- lumipalloefektiaccelerating growth
French effet boule de neige
- effet boule de neigeaccelerating growth
German Schneeballeffekt
- Schneeballeffektaccelerating growth
Hebrew אפקט כדור השלג
- אפקט כדור השלגaccelerating growth
Persian اثر گلوله برفی
- اثر گلوله برفیaccelerating growth
Polish efekt kuli śnieżnej
- efekt kuli śnieżnejaccelerating growth
Portuguese efeito bola de neve
- efeito bola de neveaccelerating growth
Russian эффе́кт сне́жного ко́ма
- эффе́кт сне́жного ко́ма (effékt snéžnovo kóma)accelerating growth
Swedish snöbollseffekt
- snöbollseffektaccelerating growth
Turkish kar topu etkisi
- kar topu etkisiaccelerating growth
Cite this entry
APA
snowball effect. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snowball%20effect
MLA
“snowball effect.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snowball%20effect. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “snowball effect,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snowball%20effect.
Source: snowball effect on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.