vicious cycle
Self-reinforcing negative pattern
A vicious cycle is a sequence of events where each problem causes another, which in turn worsens the original: Poverty leads to poor education, which leads to unemployment, which deepens poverty.
The phrase emphasizes how negative patterns reinforce themselves, making escape increasingly difficult.
Also called a vicious circle.
- hamster wheelRotating cylinder for caged pets
- rat raceExhausting competitive work routine
- spinning wheelsFiber-twisting textile devices
- circularityState of being round
- catch-22Paradoxical no-win situation
chicken and egg · echo chamber · feedback loop · doom loop · poverty trap · downward spiral · slippery slope · entrapment · ouroboros · debt spiral · rumination · positive feedback · quicksand · learned helplessness · self-fulfilling prophecy · bad habit · addiction · destructiveness
- catch-22sdeadlock, poverty trap, debt spiral, infinite regress
- consequencesconsequence, consequences, result, results, effect
- cyclescircle of life, cycles, period, rhythms, oscillations
- hardshipshardship, adversity, struggle, misfortune, difficulties
- futilityfutile, futility, in vain, pointlessness, vain
- vicious cyclesdownward spiral, debt spiral, death spiral, shame spiral, feedback loop
vicious cyclevirtuous cycle
Self-perpetuating beneficial pattern
virtuous circle · upward spiral · snowball effect · momentum
vicious cyclesolution
Answer or liquid mixture
breakthrough · resolution · escape · way out · fix
vicious cycleequilibrium
State of balance
homeostasis · balance · stability · steady state · stasis
cycle, bicycle, vicious, cyclone, recycle, tricycle, motorcycle, cycling, viciously