domino theory
2
6.6
- noun
- /ˈdɑːmɪnoʊ ˈθɪəri/
- Archaic
:
teoría del dominó
- First, the "domino theory" held that the fall of Vietnam would cause the loss of all Indochina and then the rest of Southeast Asia, with implications extending far beyond.
- reverse domino theory
Examples
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By virtue of its being only partly right, Washington's overblown domino theory stands condemned by events as false.
Academic text (1992) -
Successive presidents bought into the domino theory of communism and expanded U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War beyond what any other strategic logic would have dictated.
Academic text (2011) -
This may sound naive, but I believe in the domino theory: the chain reaction.
Fiction book (1990) -
He apparently believed in the domino theory, as did President Kennedy.
Blog text (27) -
During the Cold War, many politicians feared that the domino theory would lead to the spread of communism in Asia.
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The domino theory suggested that if Vietnam fell to communism, neighboring countries like Laos and Cambodia would also be affected.
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Critics argued against the domino theory, believing that each country's situation was unique and could not be compared.
Surface Forms
Morphology
domino + theory
The compound pairs 'domino' (the falling tile) with 'theory' (a set of ideas), so a learner who knows dominos and the notion of a chain reaction can infer a theory about things falling in sequence. However, the phrase is a conventionalized political metaphor tied to specific historical knowledge (Cold War policy), so its meaning depends on metaphorical extension and background context rather than purely literal composition.
Etymology
Domino theory comes from the image of a row of toy dominoes: if you knock one over, the next one falls, and so on. During the Cold War, people used that picture to say that if one country 'fell' to communism, nearby countries would 'fall' one after another, so the phrase means a change in one place can cause similar changes in others.