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.

Example Sentences

China’s renewed tightening of export controls is “a quantum leap in severity and coverage of such controls,” the economist says.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

China’s renewed tightening of export controls is “a quantum leap in severity and coverage of such controls,” the economist says.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“This is a big deal. This is a quantum leap forward for civilian oversight commissions.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

A spokesman for Mr Barrowman, who is also from Glasgow, described the judgement a "whitewash", while Mone said it required a "quantum leap of faith".

Read more on BBC

It’s a luxury, a quantum leap, one that can save your imagination from a propensity to meek fatalism or received social patterns.

Read more on Los Angeles Times