quantum leap

noun

1. a sudden highly significant advance; breakthrough

quantum leap

1. In physics, the movement of an electron from one orbit in an atom to another, sending out or taking on a photon in the process. (See Bohr atom.)

Informally, a “quantum leap” may be any great, sudden, or discontinuous change.

Word History and Origins

Origin of quantum leap¹

C20: from its use in physics meaning the sudden jump of an electron, atom, etc from one energy level to another

Idioms and Phrases

A dramatic advance, especially in knowledge or method, as in Establishing a central bank represents a quantum leap in this small country's development. This term originated as quantum jump in the mid-1900s in physics, where it denotes a sudden change from one energy state to another within an atom. Within a decade it was transferred to other advances, not necessarily sudden but very important ones.