{
  "id": "drifting-apart.drift",
  "term": "drifting apart",
  "sense": "drift",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 15,
  "domain": "relational dynamics",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "Change in the parameter of connection between two things, with no force pushing them together, and no maintenance to hold them near, so the space between grows until the boundary of shared state is lost.",
  "folk_gloss": "People gradually becoming less close over time.",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "drift.aimless",
      "maintenance.upkeep",
      "boundary.limit",
      "parameter.condition",
      "connection.social",
      "space.extent"
    ],
    "interaction": "interact.social",
    "novel_properties": [
      "emergence.process"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "drift apart",
    "drifting apart"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — drift nobody noticed"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-drifting-apart.drift"
}