Avalanche Meaning
/ˈævəlɑːnʃ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA large mass or body of snow and ice sliding swiftly down a mountain side, or falling down a precipice.
nounA fall of earth, rocks, etc., similar to that of an avalanche of snow or ice.
Sentence Examples
As soon as you contact your friends, tell them that an avalanche is coming.
A small snowball is capable of starting an avalanche.
CEFR Practice Quiz
A sudden loud noise triggered a massive ____ that buried the entire ski lodge under snow and ice.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The skiers were warned about the high risk of an ____ in the mountains.
Word Origin & History
From French avalanche, from Franco-Provençal (Savoy) avalançhe, blend of aval (“downhill”) and standard lavençhe, from Vulgar Latin *labanka (compare Occitan lavanca, Italian valanga), of uncertain origin, perhaps an alteration of Late Latin lābīna (“landslide”) (compare Franco-Provençal (Dauphiné) lavino, Romansh lavina), from Latin lābēs, from lābor (“to slip, slide”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"They were drinking from a fountain / That was pouring like an avalanche / Coming down the mountain"
— 1996, “Pepper”, performed by Butthole Surfers:
"Yes, but she talked it away. She uses a whole language to herself. Her discourse is an avalanche of words, beneath which the hearers are overwhelmed."
— 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 177:
"I stepped into an avalanche, it covered up my soul"
— 1971, Leonard Cohen, “Avalanche”, in Songs of Love and Hate:
"The apparent success of the City and South London triggered an avalanche of bills for Tube railways, and in 1892 a Joint Select Committee of Parliament set out some ground rules."
— 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 109:
"Whenever the stage stopped to change horses, we would wake up, and try to recollect where we were—[…] We began to get into country, now, threaded here and there with little streams. These had high, steep banks on each side, and every time we flew down one bank and scrambled up the other, our party inside got mixed somewhat. First we would all be down in a pile at the forward end of the stage, nearly in a sitting posture, and in a second we would shoot to the other end, and stand on our heads. […] ¶ Every time we avalanched from one end of the stage to the other, the Unabridged Dictionary would come too; and every time it came it damaged somebody."
— 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter IV, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC, pages 38–39:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
A sudden loud noise triggered a massive ____ that buried the entire ski lodge under snow and ice.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The skiers were warned about the high risk of an ____ in the mountains.