as in increases
to become greater in extent, volume, amount, or number
the little problems we ignored began to snowball into huge headaches
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Recent Examples of snowballs
That metaphysical connection soon snowballs into a mounting existential threat when Mia (Sophie Wilde) allows her best friend's eager little brother to have one round with the hand, after which his body is never the same.
—
Dennis Perkins, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025
Sometimes that snowballs for a defense.
—Kirk Kenney, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Sep. 2025
That then snowballs into a full-length feature Hollywood horror film.
—Aidin Vaziri, San Francisco Chronicle, 23 Feb. 2022
Dennis Perkins, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025
Sometimes that snowballs for a defense.
—Kirk Kenney, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Sep. 2025
That then snowballs into a full-length feature Hollywood horror film.
—Aidin Vaziri, San Francisco Chronicle, 23 Feb. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for snowballs
Verb
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This greatly increases the surface area available for electrochemical reactions and enables faster charging and discharging while maintaining high power density in an extremely small footprint.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
29 Apr. 2026
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Across the spectrum, increases to bonus payouts ranged from 6% to 43%, with a median of 13%, and an average increase of 12%.—
Amanda Gerut,
Fortune,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Rare earth demand rises The ubiquity of rare earth elements means demand keeps rising.—
Anton L. Delgado,
Los Angeles Times,
29 Apr. 2026
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From the fiery lake of damnation, Lucifer rises as Satan to seduce humanity’s first parents, Adam and Eve, in the flawless Garden of Eden, triggering the Fall of Man and the loss of Paradise itself.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
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And as the brightening world starts to resume familiar form, the glorious chorus swells with the songs of blue tits, goldfinches, chaffinches.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Apr. 2026
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What really surprised the rather unflappable ISS and Glass Lewis was a tax reimbursement of $334 million that swells the total payout to $886 million.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
23 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Indeed, emerging evidence suggests that early detection and aggressive treatment of psychiatric symptoms may improve long-term outcomes by delaying the onset of clinical neurodegeneration and mitigating the cumulative biological stress that accelerates brain aging.—
Eric J. Nestler,
STAT,
28 Apr. 2026
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Collagen loss accelerates, cell turnover slows, and deep wrinkles become more prominent.—
Lauren Jarvis-Gibson,
Kansas City Star,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The man stops his car on the bridge and climbs over the railing.—
Don Sweeney,
Sacbee.com,
26 Apr. 2026
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Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts a 70% chance for good conditions, which climbs to 90% in the event of a 24-hour delay.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
26 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Snowballs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/snowballs. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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