tipping point
nounDefinition of tipping point
: the critical point in a situation, process, or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change takes place
Examples of tipping point in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
There are two prevailing theories for what might happen past the Amazon’s tipping point. — Max Fisher, New York Times, "‘It’s Really Close’: How the Amazon Rainforest Could Self-Destruct," 30 Aug. 2019 These tipping points have been instrumental in having action going forward, but the key isn’t crisis management. — Vince Guerrieri, Popular Mechanics, "Smoke on the Water: 50 Years After the Cuyahoga Fire," 20 June 2019 The trans tipping point happened when Laverne Cox was on the cover of Time magazine. — Susan Hornik, latimes.com, "Our Lady J, Grey Crouch and Nik Kacy celebrate during L.A.’s Trans Pride event," 18 June 2019 The most straightforward way to better integrate tipping points into IAMs would be to increase the steepness of the damage function. — David Roberts, Vox, "We are almost certainly underestimating the economic risks of climate change," 8 June 2018 The consequences for a stock like Caterpillar are just a lot more severe than most when investors sense that tipping point. — Charley Grant, WSJ, "Why Caterpillar Rolled Over," 23 Oct. 2018 The risk of tipping points The report also highlights the possibility that even modest amounts of warming may push both human societies and natural ecosystems past certain thresholds where sudden and calamitous changes can occur. — Nadja Popovich, The Seattle Times, "Why half a degree of global warming is a big deal," 9 Oct. 2018 North Korea and Iran represent tipping points in their regions. — Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, "John Bolton Is No Bugaboo," 26 Mar. 2018 One tip pointed investigators to Becker, according to the court document. — Bree Burkitt, azcentral, "Aunt of boy hurt in Bartlett Lake hit-and-run: Arrest brings relief but no fix," 16 Mar. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'tipping point.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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