avalanche
noun
av·a·lanche
| \ ˈa-və-ˌlanch
\
\
Definition of avalanche
(Entry 1 of 2)
1
: a large mass of snow, ice, earth, rock, or other material in swift motion down a mountainside or over a precipice
2
: a sudden great or overwhelming rush or accumulation of something
hit by an avalanche of paperwork
3
physics
: a cumulative process in which photons or accelerated charge carriers produce additional photons or charge carriers through collisions (as with gas molecules)
avalanche
verb
avalanched;
avalanching
Definition of avalanche (Entry 2 of 2)
: to descend in an avalanche
Snow avalanched down the mountain.
Examples of avalanche in a Sentence
Noun
He was buried by an avalanche.Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
My home office is an avalanche of forthcoming books. — Lauren Mechling, latimes.com, "Lauren Mechling: A chair of my own," 13 June 2019 These are very large eruptions, the impacts of which would be widespread—from avalanches of hot rock and gasses racing down the volcano's flanks to global changes in climate. — National Geographic, "How dangerous are supervolcanoes? Get the facts.," 19 Mar. 2019 Thanks to encryption and prompt fixes, however, there hasn't been an avalanche of passwords released onto the internet. — Eric Limer, Popular Mechanics, "You Should Be Using a Password Manager," 17 Jan. 2019 The workers can be heard casually chatting in French, having cleared a path from an earlier avalanche. — Kate Samuelson, Time, "Workers Run for Their Lives as They Narrowly Miss Avalanche in France," 13 Apr. 2018 Unfortunately, everyone's brain suffers from avalanches. — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, "Neuron cascade may be akin to neutral selection in evolution," 16 Jan. 2018 The Republican party doesn’t need saving from an electoral avalanche. — Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, "Romney for Senate," 10 Jan. 2018 Then there's the financial paperwork avalanche craziness that most parents endure when attempting to procure financial aid from a college or university. — Eric Scott, chicagotribune.com, "Column: It’s time to take a deeper look at college-related scams," 8 Aug. 2019 But an avalanche blocked the road, forcing the Tour organizers to call off the stage early. — Sinar Alvarado, New York Times, "The Colombian Who Made History at the Tour de France," 30 July 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
Early pioneers of universality, led by the physicist Leo Kadanoff, discovered that systems as different as avalanching sand piles and magnetizing metals all operate on multiple scales. — Quanta Magazine, "Bubble Experiment Finds Universal Laws," 31 July 2019 Just look at any photo of Gritty: his lidless, spinning eyes; his inert tongue; his unshaven beard which avalanches over his collarbone, like a Portland bartender’s. — Jason Gay, WSJ, "The Fuzzy Terror of Sports Mascots," 27 Sep. 2018 Conspiracy mogul Alex Jones’s gruff voice avalanched out of the speakers and declared war on globalists and labeled Hillary Clinton a criminal who needed to be locked away. — Longreads, "The RNC, Revisited," 31 Oct. 2017 Licht got avalanched for dealing third-round and fourth-round picks in 2016 to move into the second round to draft a kicker. — Peter King, SI.com, "Monday Morning QB: Bucs GM Jason Licht ‘Owning Up’ to Roberto Aguayo Mistake," 14 Aug. 2017 After being fourth in team defense in 2014 under Jim Schwartz, Rex Ryan’s unit got avalanched the past two seasons, finishing 19th twice with uglier analytics measurables than that. — Peter King, The MMQB, "Peter King: The NFL's strongest division is...," 22 May 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'avalanche.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for avalanche
avalanche
noun
English Language Learners Definition of avalanche
: a large amount of snow and ice or of dirt and rocks that slides suddenly down the side of a mountain
: a sudden great amount of something
See the full definition for avalanche in the English Language Learners Dictionary
avalanche
noun
av·a·lanche
| \ ˈa-və-ˌlanch
\
\
Kids Definition of avalanche
: a large mass of snow and ice or of earth or rock sliding down a mountainside or over a cliff
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