Reaching the 'Tipping Point'

And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.

Today we talk about an important time in a movement or experience. It is the moment when something cannot be stopped. There is a momentum or force pushing something forward or making it more known or popular.

One term for that kind of moment is tipping point.

The online dictionary Merriam-Webster defines tipping point as “the critical point in a situation, process, or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change takes place.”

The tipping point can also be the time at which a change or an effect cannot be stopped.

For example, some scientists believe Earth may have passed the tipping point in global warming. Efforts taken now will not prevent environmental disaster. It is too late to stop the damage. In other words, that ship has sailed. When something reaches a tipping point it is too late to turn back. It is a point of no return.

Here is another definition. The online Cambridge Dictionary defines the tipping point as “a time during an activity or process when an important decision has to be made or when a situation changes completely.”

Used this way, we often say we reach, approach, or near a tipping point. Here are some examples:

In class, the students' anger toward their teacher reached a tipping point. She had again given them a test on a subject she hadn't taught.

Prices at the food store are nearing a tipping point. If they go much higher, people will just shop elsewhere.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote about the subject in his book Tipping Point published in 2002. He describes tipping point this way: “The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.”

For example, you could say, “The writer's best-selling second book was the tipping point in her career. Now, everything she publishes is popular!”

And that's the end of this Words and Their Stories.

Until next time, I'm Anna Matteo.

Anna Matteo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.

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momentum – n. strength or force gained by motion or by a series of events

significant – adj. having much importance

approach – v. to draw closer to

trend – n. a current style or preference

threshold – n. the place or point of entering or beginning