tipping point

noun

1. the point at which an issue, idea, product, etc., crosses a certain threshhold and gains significant momentum, triggered by some minor factor or change.
2. the point in a situation at which a minor development precipitates a crisis:

   Every infected person brings us closer to the tipping point, when the outbreak becomes an epidemic.

3. Physics. the point at which an object is no longer balanced, and adding a small amount of weight can cause it to topple.

tipping point

/ ˈtɪpɪŋ /

noun

1. the crisis stage in a process, when a significant change takes place

Word History and Origins

Origin of tipping point¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

Merchants Fleet CEO Keegan, citing Geoffrey Moore’s nearly 30-year-old tech-marketing classic, Crossing the Chasm, believes that the coronavirus has finally pushed e-commerce to a tipping point.

From Fortune

Stop Hate for Profit highlighted social media hitting its tipping point.

From TechCrunch

With the pandemic, plus the housing crisis, plus the homelessness crisis, we reached a tipping point locally.

From Voice of San Diego

With the waning of liberal democracy we are at a cultural tipping point in the west where opponents do not neatly line up as left versus right and where politics is increasingly defined by cultural values.

From No Straight News

I think we are at tipping points now in where capital is going.

From Washington Post

We have reached a tipping point where mega donors completely dominate the landscape.

From The Daily Beast

Your death is a tragic bookend to a year touted as the “transgender tipping point.”

From The Daily Beast

We have reached a tipping point in the culture where Americans are now trained to look to the rules instead of their own judgment.

From The Daily Beast

I agree with you, but the youthful energy in the libertarian movement foresees a tipping point.

From The Daily Beast

There is a feeling in the air that Pankisi is about to reach its tipping point.

From The Daily Beast