glass cliff
Americannoun
Usage
What does glass cliff mean? The glass cliff is a metaphor for putting women and other minorities into leadership positions during times of crisis. It suggests they are getting set up to fail, as if getting pushed over a cliff.
Etymology
Origin of glass cliff
Coined in 2004 by Michelle K. Ryan ( 1948– ) and S. Alexander Haslan ( 1962– ), British psychologists, on the model of glass ceiling ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Perhaps the most sympathetic reason Williams gave for the glass cliff phenomenon is that sometimes an institution wants to signal they’re shaking things up by promoting someone who isn’t a cookie-cutter white guy.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2025
Some commentators have already suggested she is poised to encounter the "glass cliff" - a phenomenon in which women reach positions of power only at the riskiest moments.
From BBC ● May 28, 2023
“It’s part of an overall strategy: How do we make sure that women get into the pipeline, stay in it and aren’t on a glass cliff? Retention is hard and attrition is common,” Markgraf said.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 23, 2023
And so, Kathy Hochul finds herself one step closer to the edge of that glass cliff.
From New York Times ● Apr. 15, 2022
The glass cliff overlooks a lake where the beavers built a dam about a mile and a half long in a zig-zag line, as their necessities prompted.
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
