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a slippery slope

a step that may lead to worse outcomes

In Headline Expressions

In more detail

(idiom) a situation in which one bad event or decision leads to more bad events or decisions that are hard to stop; a dangerous series of consequences that happens after an initial action

Examples

• Allowing one exception to the rule could be a slippery slope that leads to many more exceptions.

How to use a slippery slope

This idiom is used to describe situations where an initial action or decision leads to a chain of increasingly negative consequences that become difficult to control or reverse. It is commonly used in arguments about policy, ethics, or personal behavior, often to warn against allowing something seemingly minor because it might lead to much worse outcomes. The tone is cautious or alarmed, and the expression carries a sense of inevitability about the progression.

Common phrases

• head down a slippery slope
• avoid a slippery slope
• lead to a slippery slope
• argue it's a slippery slope
• the slippery slope argument

Synonyms

a downward spiral · a chain reaction · a vicious cycle · domino effect · a dangerous precedent

A common mistake

Learners sometimes use this expression to describe any series of bad events, but it specifically implies that each step makes the next step harder to avoid or that each consequence leads naturally and dangerously to the next; it is not simply a sequence of unrelated problems.

Nearby in Headline Expressions

on thin ice, draw a line in the sand, throw cold water on, a level playing field, moving the needle, a game changer

Keep going

How to remember the words you read · Spaced repetition, explained