{
  "id": "perfect-storm.threshold",
  "term": "perfect storm",
  "sense": "threshold",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 16,
  "domain": "everyday",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "A drift that crosses a wall only because multiple parameters had already approached their limits, each unnoticed while the others held.",
  "folk_gloss": "A rare combination of bad conditions that together cause disaster.",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "drift.aimless",
      "wall.range-end",
      "parameter.condition",
      "window.range",
      "multiple.quantity"
    ],
    "interaction": "interaction.process",
    "novel_properties": [
      "small cause, large effect"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "perfect storm"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — small cause, large effect"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-perfect-storm.threshold"
}