How to Use chain reaction in a Sentence

chain reaction

noun
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  • Increased oil prices could trigger a chain reaction in the economy.
  • This can cause a chain reaction slowing of traffic in the lane involved.
    — Gary Richards, The Mercury News, 23 Aug. 2019
  • Their surgeries were performed a day apart in March and that set off a chain reaction.
    — Mola Lenghi, CBS News, 2 July 2019
  • Such a chain reaction is an example of the costs carbon emissions may bring.
    — The Economist, 19 Sep. 2019
  • And in a system where schedules are set up to keep planes in the sky as much as possible, any delay can cause a chain reaction.
    — Wired, 11 Sep. 2019
  • The chain reaction caused Brendan Gaughan’s car to flip over the car of Kurt Busch and land on its wheels.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Oct. 2019
  • The danger for Mr Putin now is that the protests will trigger a chain reaction throughout Russia.
    — The Economist, 15 Aug. 2019
  • Investigators believe a spark from a power tool used by the man set off a firework in a wooden rack and started a chain reaction.
    — Jeremy C. Fox, BostonGlobe.com, 3 July 2019
  • In Paradise, entire neighborhoods were wiped out not so much by the Camp Fire, but via a chain reaction.
    — AZCentral.com, 23 July 2019
  • Viewers attempting to follow a train of thought or a set of actions find the material in the room around them setting off a chain reaction leading to all sorts of mayhem.
    — Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 July 2024
  • Just as a co-worker’s stress can spread to others via late-night emails and terse hallway exchanges, so too can a powerful colleague’s apparent apathy set off a disastrous chain reaction.
    — Sarah Todd, Quartz at Work, 2 July 2019
  • That double-vision began a chain reaction of associations that unfolded over time in marvelous, disturbing and insightful ways.
    — Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2019
  • The events of No Way Home will then set off a chain reaction.
    — Jacob Siegal, BGR, 14 July 2021
  • The song started a chain reaction of dance both on stage and in the audience.
    — Rory Appleton, The Indianapolis Star, 11 July 2022
  • The struggle to raise cash has threatened to set off a chain reaction.
    — Jeanna Smialek, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2020
  • He got caught in a chain reaction crash in Turn 12 barely a quarter of the way through the race and finished 35th.
    — Dave Kallmann, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3 July 2021
  • This sets off the chain reaction that ends with the Taylor-Prince-Chuck alliance.
    — Sarene Leeds, Vulture, 12 Sep. 2021
  • The chain reaction pushed prices higher at every link along the way.
    — New York Times, 9 Dec. 2021
  • Even a change of a few degrees would have been enough to trigger a chain reaction that caused the food chain to collapse.
    — Mike Wehner, BGR, 30 Mar. 2021
  • The world’s struggles are ‘piling up like cars in a chain reaction crash,’ U.N. chief says.
    — Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan. 2023
  • In the blink of an eye, the float was pulled under water, triggering a chain reaction on the club's grounds.
    — Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 25 Apr. 2021
  • The bank’s failure set off a chain reaction that has coursed through the global banking system in the weeks since.
    — Jeanna Smialek, BostonGlobe.com, 28 Mar. 2023
  • Challenge someone this year with a gift that gives a chain reaction for good.
    — Angela Belt, House Beautiful, 14 Dec. 2022
  • In the Little Boy, a bullet-like projectile made of uranium-235 was fired at a core of the same substance to set off the chain reaction.
    — Popular Mechanics, 26 May 2023
  • Russell was struck by the first vehicle in the chain reaction.
    — Camila Pedrosa, The Arizona Republic, 26 Sep. 2022
  • In the end, Favors’ man has to help, leaving for a chain reaction of passes that ends up as a Clarkson three.
    — Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 22 May 2021
  • Those warmer waters can set off a chain reaction of climate effects around the world.
    — Leigh Morgan, al, 13 Apr. 2023
  • The flooding creates a chain reaction in the engine and the batteries that made the parts more likely to catch on fire, the agency said.
    — Matt Gutman, ABC News, 20 Oct. 2022
  • Three vehicles were unable to stop and were struck in a chain reaction.
    — Deanese Williams-Harris, chicagotribune.com, 5 Feb. 2022
  • When Grady finds Ashley’s body the next day, the subsequent quest for answers sets off a chain reaction of recrimination and revelations.
    — Paula L. Woods, Los Angeles Times, 18 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'chain reaction.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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