quantum leap

British  

noun

1. a sudden highly significant advance; breakthrough

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quantum leap Cultural  

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.)

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quantum leap Idioms  

1. 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.

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Discover More

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

Etymology

Origin of quantum leap

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

Example Sentences

Now, however, women's involvement took a quantum leap.

From BBC • Nov. 29, 2025

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

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 13, 2025

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

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 7, 2025

In elite distance running, that’s not a marginal gain, it’s a quantum leap.

From Slate • Jun. 28, 2025

Nothing in between is allowed, so to get from 30 to 40 miles an hour, you have to make a quantum leap.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife