{
  "id": "the-new-normal.drift",
  "term": "the new normal",
  "sense": "drift",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 19,
  "arena": "cultural perception",
  "domain": "societal adaptation",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "a state that has drifted outside its previous window while no one was watching, so the model of what is usual has silently updated to fit what persists.",
  "folk_gloss": "what people now accept as usual after a big change.",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "drift.aimless",
      "window.range",
      "model.representation",
      "maintenance.upkeep",
      "parameter.condition"
    ],
    "interaction": "none",
    "novel_properties": [
      "new"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "After the 2008 financial crisis, negative interest rates became standard in the ECB's policy framework by 2014.",
      "domain": "economics"
    },
    {
      "text": "By 2023, California's annual fire season had extended to nine months, reshaping emergency response planning.",
      "domain": "institutions"
    },
    {
      "text": "The International Space Station's orbit decays about 2 km per month without reboosts from visiting spacecraft.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "new normal",
    "the new normal"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — drift nobody noticed"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-new-normal.drift"
}