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butterfly effect

Noun CEFR B2

Definitions

  1. The technical notion of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory.
  2. The notion that small changes in the past via time travel can cause disproportionately large and unforeseeable consequences in the present.
    broadly

Equivalents

14 more languages

Examples

“Example of butterfly effect: stepping on a bug 4,000 years ago causes a different person to win⟳ the presidential election today.”

CEFR level

B2
Upper Intermediate
This word is part of the CEFR B2 vocabulary — upper intermediate level.
See all B2 English words →

See also

butterfly fish butterfly ginger butterfly keyboard butterfly kick butterfly kiss butterfly knife

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