tsunami
Pluraltsunami, tsunamis
- 1A very large, destructive wave (often a series of waves) usually caused by a major disturbance in the ocean, such as an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption.
The 2011 tsunami devastated communities along Japan's northeastern coast.
Geologists study how tsunamis travel across entire ocean basins at the speed of a jet plane.
Note
Japanese gave English the word: tsu, "harbor," plus nami, "wave." It is a harbor wave, named for the coast where it strikes rather than the open ocean where it begins. In deep water it travels long and low, and it rises steeply only as it reaches shallow coasts. The English plural is tsunamis, though the unchanged tsunami also serves as a plural.
- 2A large, generally unstoppable surge of something, such as emotion, activity, or demand.
A tsunami of public outrage followed the company's announcement.
The election unleashed a tsunami of misinformation across social media.
Similarflood, deluge, torrent, wave, avalanche
Oppositetrickle
Note
The figurative wave nearly always arrives in the frame a tsunami of: a tsunami of complaints, of debate, of legislation, of protest. It suits things that swell from a handful of cases into something no one can hold back, and it pairs naturally with verbs of starting and becoming, such as set off and turn into. It also keeps the menace of the ocean wave. In Nigel Harris's 2020 comment in Rail, a tsunami of protest ends in a humiliating apology.
What began as a few isolated cases turned into a tsunami of complaints.
The review set off a tsunami of debate among critics.
Practice
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Origin
Borrowed from Japanese tsunami (津波), which combines tsu ("harbour") and nami ("wave").