Meaning of mission creep | Babel Free

Definitions

Gradual unplanned expansion of the objectives, scope, and/or cost of a project, especially a military mission.

idiomatic, uncountable

Examples

“Initially presented as a purely humanitarian mission, Operation Restore⟳ Hope⟳ gradually shifted from feeding Somalis to fighting them. Unaware of the "mission creep⟳," the public was outraged when 18 U.S. soldiers died in an October 1993 fire fight⟳.”

“General John Shalikashvili . . . said it was important to set⟳ a target⟳ date⟳ of one year and then bring⟳ the troops home, because "in the absence of that, you find⟳ yourself staying there, and that's how very often mission creep⟳ comes in."”

“The risks of mission creep⟳ and a deepening quagmire leading to nation-building would arise⟳ only if ownership of the uprising was appropriated from the Libyans by the West, as would happen⟳ with ground troops.”

“A good stand-and-stir cooking show⟳ is to the Food Network as the music video is to MTV: ancient relics of both institutions' respective original purposes, before mission creep⟳ led them to trashy reality competition programming — apparently the entropic end-stage of all TV.”

CEFR level