perfect storm
19
6.0
- noun
- /ˈpɜrfɪkt stɔrm/
- Informal
:
tormenta perfecta
- The campaign faced a perfect storm of criticism due to poor planning and unexpected events.
That's a, you know, a perfect storm for all of us getting addicted.
- That's a, you know, a perfect storm for all of us getting addicted.
- But the the perfect storm just LED into an avalanche.
- There was just a, a, a tragic perfect storm of events.
- And so those things coalesce to create a perfect storm for this event to occur.
- Change your behavior and make damn sure you don't replicate that perfect storm.
- It's all giving us the perfect storm.
- This means that certain preconditions are necessary to create a a perfect storm.
- I mean, Africa has the perfect storm for crew organizations, right?
- Just this whole perfect storm and just like, fuck this.
- Yeah, like just the perfect storm.
- At best it's more like a wild boom and bust ride through several perfect storms.
- It's, it's like the perfect storm.
Examples
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The pandemic created a perfect storm of economic challenges for many small businesses.
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Demographics and demagoguery have at last come together to create the perfect storm for America.
Blog text (26) -
The problem is we have a perfect storm of why you get hurt.
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There is a perfect storm of reasons.
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That was a perfect storm of bad luck.
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Rising gas prices are a result of a number of factors that combined have created a "perfect storm."
Blog text (1) -
Add diabetes to the mix of food struggles, and you have what amounts to a perfect storm.
Blog text (16) -
We are in a perfect storm where so many absolutes are now up for grabs.
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Instead, many face a perfect storm of soil exhaustion, erosion and rising rents.
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Her mismanagement of time, combined with a lack of resources, led to a perfect storm of setbacks.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A sudden event that causes great damage, loss, or failure
176
7.0
A sudden terrible event that causes great damage and suffering
95
5.8
A sudden total failure that causes serious damage to a system
29
5.5
A very large, powerful storm that causes widespread damage or a very serious situation with many problems
1
3.7
A situation that is a total failure causing big problems
An extremely violent storm that causes widespread damage and destruction
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'perfect' (an intensifier meaning complete) and 'storm' (a violent disturbance) yield the image of an especially severe or complete disturbance, so learners can guess it refers to an intense bad situation. However, the specific sense 'several negative events coinciding to produce an especially bad result' is a metaphorical extension that is not fully predictable from the parts alone and often requires prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Perfect storm comes from a literal weather picture: when different storms meet and join, they make one very strong, dangerous storm. That's why people now use it for 'a situation where several bad things happen at the same time'.