as in to increase
to become greater in extent, volume, amount, or number
the little problems we ignored began to snowball into huge headaches
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of snowball
Clicking a bad link or handing over credentials can snowball into long-term consequences.
—
Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 23 Sep. 2025
Otherwise the megasystem problem and the uniformity problem will snowball.
—Eric Markowitz, Big Think, 23 Sep. 2025
That still puts you ahead of the afternoon crunch, when delays are more likely to snowball.
—Alesandra Dubin, Southern Living, 22 Sep. 2025
At $100k+ per hour in many plants, a single gearbox or conveyor failure can quickly snowball into millions of dollars lost.
—Srishti Gupta, Interesting Engineering, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for snowball
Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 23 Sep. 2025
Otherwise the megasystem problem and the uniformity problem will snowball.
—Eric Markowitz, Big Think, 23 Sep. 2025
That still puts you ahead of the afternoon crunch, when delays are more likely to snowball.
—Alesandra Dubin, Southern Living, 22 Sep. 2025
At $100k+ per hour in many plants, a single gearbox or conveyor failure can quickly snowball into millions of dollars lost.
—Srishti Gupta, Interesting Engineering, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for snowball
Recent Examples of Synonyms for snowball
Verb
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The cuts come after Chegg in May laid off 22% of its workforce, citing increasing adoption of AI.—
Annie Palmer,
CNBC,
28 Oct. 2025
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With increasing space traffic from various nations and private companies, keeping tabs on potential collisions and threats becomes crucial.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The number of foreign residents has risen sharply in recent years, reaching a record 3 percent of the population in 2024, as Tokyo cautiously loosened visa rules for workers in key industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, and caregiving.—
Micah McCartney,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Oct. 2025
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In that appearance, Thilly moonwalked across the floor and performed a backspin before using his allotted five minutes to complain about rising taxes, according to CBS News New York.—
Michael Dorgan,
FOXNews.com,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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She was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition and underwent emergency surgery, during which doctors removed part of her skull to relieve swelling.—
Michael Dorgan,
FOXNews.com,
25 Oct. 2025
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Venezuela’s armed forces comprise roughly 109,000 active personnel, but the total number swells when paramilitary and reserve units are included.—
Amanda Castro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The open-source project has been used by millions of scientists in more than 190 countries, accelerating research into diseases previously considered intractable.—
Dave Smith,
Fortune,
26 Oct. 2025
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Southern China’s tropical to subtropical climate – with heavy rainfall, heat, and humidity – accelerates chemical weathering, while the region’s long history of tectonic and magmatic activity adds further erosion.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Here, fans sit above the pit straight and start-finish line, roughly level with Turn 1 as the track climbs steeply up toward them.—
Patrick Iversen,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
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In the three-way race that followed, Cuomo’s support climbed to 33 percent, indicating that many of Adams’ former voters migrated to him—while Mamdani’s overall numbers held steady.—
Martha McHardy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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When a snowstorm blows up suddenly and socks in the entire area, Lester and Mike begin a search that soon expands with the aid of local neighbors and law enforcement.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
22 Oct. 2025
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The Functional Fabric Fair has also expanded its speaker programming to provide forward-thinking insights and solutions to current challenges.—
SJ Studio,
Sourcing Journal,
22 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Snowball.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/snowball. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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