safety valve

noun

Definition of safety valve

1 : an automatic escape or relief valve (as for a steam boiler)

2 : an outlet for pent-up energy or emotion

3 : something that relieves the pressure of overcrowding

Examples of safety valve in a Sentence

His hobbies act as a safety valve, relieving some of the pressure he feels from his job.

Recent Examples on the Web

America as a whole can thank the Founders for creating a federalist system that allows the economic and political safety valve of interstate policy competition. — The Editorial Board, WSJ, "High-Tax State Exodus," 28 Dec. 2018 Lakes Michigan and Huron have no such safety valve. — Tony Briscoe, chicagotribune.com, "What happens when Lake Superior has too much water? It dumps it into an already overflowing Lake Michigan," 13 July 2018 Human nature abhors a boss, and politically, democracy serves as a safety valve. — James Stavridis, Time, "Democracy Isn't Perfect, But It Will Still Prevail," 12 July 2018 The federal money also will be spent widening the Sacramento Weir, a mechanism north of the city that acts as a safety valve by channeling flood waters into the Yolo Bypass. — Dale Kasler, sacbee, "Trump administration sends Sacramento $1.8 billion for flood protection," 5 July 2018 That approach has become a crucial safety valve for Canada as the number of refugee claimants has doubled over the past year. — Selena Ross, Washington Post, "Asylum seekers have flooded into Canada. The government is putting them to work.," 20 May 2018 In the English legal tradition before the framing of the Constitution, kings issued pardons, a necessary safety valve in a legal system with rigid rules and a heavy use of capital punishment. — Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, "The Rule of Law Is Crumbling Further Each Day Under Trump," 10 June 2018 In Stover, Loyola has a reliable safety valve in the cage. — Edward Lee, baltimoresun.com, "Review & preview: Loyola Maryland men’s lacrosse," 8 June 2018 Freshmen Cameron Rising and Casey Thompson received praise, too, though their collective role this offseason is to push the two veterans and serve as a safety valve in case of emergency. — Nick Moyle, San Antonio Express-News, "Texas QB competition won’t be settled this spring," 6 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'safety valve.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.