{
  "id": "tipping-point.threshold",
  "term": "tipping point",
  "sense": "threshold",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 16,
  "arena": "social dynamics",
  "domain": "emergence",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "A parameter drifting just past a wall where the whole exceeds its parts, and nothing before it could hold the change back.",
  "folk_gloss": "The moment when a small change causes a sudden shift in a situation.",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "tipping-point.irreversible"
    ],
    "interaction": "interaction.process",
    "novel_properties": [
      "whole.exceeding.parts"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "In 2008, Iceland's banking system collapsed when liabilities exceeded GDP by a factor of ten, triggering national default.",
      "domain": "economics"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Chernobyl reactor core breached its containment after a power surge passed 120% of rated capacity, releasing massive radiation.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "On June 5, 1910, the first confirmed case of sudden oak death was recorded in California, leading to forest ecosystem collapse.",
      "domain": "biology"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "tipping point"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — the whole exceeding its parts"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-tipping-point.threshold"
}