avalanche
a large mass of snow, ice, etc., detached from a mountain slope and sliding or falling suddenly downward.
anything like an avalanche in suddenness and overwhelming quantity: an avalanche of misfortunes; an avalanche of fan mail.
Also called Townsend avalanche. Physics, Chemistry. a cumulative ionization process in which the ions and electrons of one generation undergo collisions that produce a greater number of ions and electrons in succeeding generations.
to come down in, or like, an avalanche.
to overwhelm with an extremely large amount of anything; swamp.
Origin of avalanche
1Words that may be confused with avalanche
- avalanche , landslide
Words Nearby avalanche
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use avalanche in a sentence
Now I take 45 minutes for coffee and a little breakfast, check the avalanche report, and I’m out the door.
No one wants to be caught under a snack or linen avalanche every time they open their pantry.
The best bins and baskets to keep your pantry perfectly organized | PopSci Commerce Team | October 13, 2020 | Popular-ScienceThese days, when something important or “newsy” happens, there’s an avalanche of content online that overwhelms people and leaves them less certain of what’s happening than before.
After the Thomas Fire burned across hills around the town, rain led to a kind of muddy avalanche so powerful it carried entire boulders.
California wildfires may give way to massive mudslides | Ula Chrobak | September 17, 2020 | Popular-ScienceAfter staff and guests are cut off from all access to the outside world by a devastating avalanche, resentments are laid bare as the corporate food chain unravels and office politics take a deadly turn.
And Duke was a closet Nazi getting exposed by an avalanche of reporting.
Horst Ulrich, a 72-year-old German on a trek with a group of friends, watched four Nepali guides swept away by an avalanche.
Nepal’s Deadliest Avalanche Was Totally Avoidable | Dick Dorworth | October 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt was an avalanche in lower Manhattan, reaching 2.4 on the Richter scale.
And after enough snowflakes of conflict comes the avalanche.
Many of the other Nepali Sherpas working on the mountain witnessed the avalanche as it covered their friends and fellow workers.
However that may be, they were overtaken by an avalanche, the mother was buried beneath it, and the child saw her no more.
Stories about Animals: with Pictures to Match | Francis C. WoodworthWhen we cut out the foundation—they're afraid that the vibration will loosen the rest and start an avalanche.
The White Desert | Courtney Ryley CooperSheppy was coming around the corner of the granary in his most sedate manner, when the pop-eyed avalanche almost stepped on him.
The Red Cow and Her Friends | Peter McArthurOne man of our acquaintance was caught by a descending avalanche and swept down the hill by the moving mass.
The Cradle of Mankind | W.A. WigramAt one particular place an enormous avalanche is an annual event, owing to the peculiar configuration of the gorges.
The Cradle of Mankind | W.A. Wigram
British Dictionary definitions for avalanche
/ (ˈævəˌlɑːntʃ) /
a fall of large masses of snow and ice down a mountain
a fall of rocks, sand, etc
a sudden or overwhelming appearance of a large quantity of things: an avalanche of letters
physics a group of ions or electrons produced by a single ion or electron as a result of a collision with some other form of matter
to come down overwhelmingly (upon)
Origin of avalanche
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for avalanche
[ ăv′ə-lănch′ ]
The sudden fall or slide of a large mass of material down the side of a mountain. Avalanches may contain snow, ice, rock, soil, or a mixture of these materials. Avalanches can be triggered by changes in temperature, by sound vibrations, or by vibrations in the earth itself.
A process resulting in the production of large numbers of ionized particles, in which electrons or ions collide with molecules, with each collision itself producing an additional electron or ion that in turn collides with other molecules. Avalanches are what generate the pulses of electric current that are registered by Geiger counters.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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