An avalanche is a large mass of snow, ice, and sometimes rocks that suddenly slides down a mountain. It can move very fast and be extremely dangerous.
From French “avalanche,” earlier “avalanche” or “avalasse,” related to Swiss dialect “lavanche,” from Latin “labina,” meaning “a slide.” The word spread with descriptions of Alpine disasters.
We now use avalanche metaphorically for anything that comes all at once—an avalanche of emails or messages. The word captures that mix of weight, speed, and feeling buried.
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