{
  "id": "the-last-straw.threshold",
  "term": "the last straw",
  "sense": "threshold",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 15,
  "arena": "emergence-lexicon",
  "domain": "everyday-language",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "a parameter that drifts through a wall because maintenance has ceased and the window has narrowed to nothing.",
  "folk_gloss": "a small thing that finally causes something to break or fail.",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "parameter.condition",
      "drift.aimless",
      "wall.range-end",
      "window.range",
      "maintenance.upkeep"
    ],
    "interaction": "crossing-without-removal",
    "novel_properties": [
      "emergence.novel_properties"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "In 2011, a single overheating transformer tripped the San Diego power grid, collapsing the entire network.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Aral Sea shrank below the point where river inflows could sustain its level, leading to ecosystem collapse.",
      "domain": "environment"
    },
    {
      "text": "A programmer ignored a memory leak in a server process until it consumed all available RAM, crashing the system.",
      "domain": "computing"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "last straw",
    "the last straw"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — crossing without removal"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-last-straw.threshold"
}