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
The cost of dredging is already sky-high, and that just snowballs.
—
Jesus Mesa, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 July 2025
Response snowballed from there and rather than repelling people — as her family once feared — Glaser’s brutal honesty and candid observations brought her a whole new audience.
—Jenelle Riley, Variety, 17 July 2025
More tokens mean more opportunities for a model to make small mistakes that snowball into larger ones.
—ArsTechnica, 7 July 2025
The airline’s operations were stymied by a winter storm, but the issue snowballed after the storm overwhelmed its crew-rescheduling system.
—Chad De Guzman, Time, 22 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for snowball
Jesus Mesa, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 July 2025
Response snowballed from there and rather than repelling people — as her family once feared — Glaser’s brutal honesty and candid observations brought her a whole new audience.
—Jenelle Riley, Variety, 17 July 2025
More tokens mean more opportunities for a model to make small mistakes that snowball into larger ones.
—ArsTechnica, 7 July 2025
The airline’s operations were stymied by a winter storm, but the issue snowballed after the storm overwhelmed its crew-rescheduling system.
—Chad De Guzman, Time, 22 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for snowball
Recent Examples of Synonyms for snowball
Verb
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Trump also targeted Walmart after the retailer warned its prices would increase to absorb the cost of his tariffs.—
Ty Roush,
Forbes.com,
6 Aug. 2025
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FEMco is dedicated to creating opportunities for female artists to increase their visibility and reach via events, sponsorships and more.—
Jem Aswad,
Variety,
6 Aug. 2025
Verb
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The reduction came as rents in Chicago keep rising and after the state grappled with serious fiscal challenges when balancing its budget this year, issues exacerbated by a federal government focused on axing spending.—
Lizzie Kane,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Aug. 2025
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Expect creeks to rise and have more flow in the Coastal Range, Willapa Hills and Cascades.—
Zach Urness,
USA Today,
15 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Wound infections typically come with fever, redness, pain, swelling, discharge and discoloration.—
Mary Whitfill Roeloffs,
Forbes.com,
8 Aug. 2025
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Losses over $100,000 swell 700% Losses among those older adults who lost at least $100,000 have swelled to $445 million in 2024 from $55 million in 2020, according to the FTC.—
Greg Iacurci,
CNBC,
8 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Toucan’s carbon pool grew 400% in 2024 as institutional ESG demand accelerated.—
Sean Lee,
Forbes.com,
14 Aug. 2025
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One rotation devours another, and still the momentum accelerates.—
Alaa Alqaisi
August 13,
Literary Hub,
13 Aug. 2025
Verb
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The world’s most valuable digital currency had climbed to roughly $124,380 around 8:30 p.m. EST, according to Coinbase data from TradingView.—
Charles Lloyd Bovaird II,
Forbes.com,
14 Aug. 2025
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The first verses unspooled over a simple I-V-IV progression, one of the most fundamental sets of chord changes in folk and pop music, each verse ending with a brief upward progression that climbed back to the root chord in time for the next set of lines.—
Peter Ames Carlin,
Rolling Stone,
13 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Senate Bill 19, passed during the 2025 legislative session, expanded on a preexisting law that allowed parents to pull students from school for moral instruction one hour each week.—
Keely Doll,
The Courier-Journal,
7 Aug. 2025
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The Visual Media & Platform division, which includes anime and mobile content in Japan, also expanded.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
7 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Snowball.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/snowball. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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