Meaning of death spiral | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The downward, corkscrew-motion of a disabled aircraft which is unrecoverably headed for a crash.
2. A manoeuvre in which a male skater spins in place while holding one hand of his female skating partner as she circles around him with one skate on the ice and one leg extended outward parallel to the ice surface, all the while slowly lowering herself until her back almost touches the ice surface.
3. The situation or course of action of one who is on a path toward some sort of inevitable catastrophic failure.
   broadly, figuratively
4. Synonym of ant mill (“A phenomenon where a group of army ants, separated from the main foraging party, lose the pheromone track and begin to follow one another, forming a continuously rotating circle and eventually dying of exhaustion.”).

Equivalents

Examples

““We call this getting yourself in a square corner, when you run out of ideas and experience at the same time,” said Mr. Barr, a fighter pilot in the Vietnam War. “[…] Even for a good pilot, that could produce a death spiral.””

“There are four types of death spirals, named for the edge on which the lady is skating—forward outside, forward inside, back outside, or back inside.”

“But what followed for Lozano, his grieving family claims, was a death spiral into infantilism and madness.”

“The markets are in meltdown, intensifying the downward pirouette of what the international financier George Soros has called "Greece's death spiral".”

“When the price of Luna plummeted in May, TerraUSD fell in tandem — a “death spiral” that destabilized the broader market and plunged some investors into financial ruin.”

CEFR level