The Tipping Point: Chapters 3–4

by Malcolm Gladwell
How does a small idea become a global craze? In this work of nonfiction, Malcolm Gladwell analyzes how trends are set in motion.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Introduction–Chapter 2, Chapters 3–4, Chapters 5–6, Chapter 7–Afterword

Here are links to our lists for other works by Malcolm Gladwell: Outliers, Blink
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. maxim
    a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits
    There is a maxim in the advertising business that an advertisement has to be seen at least six times before anyone will remember it.
  2. unprecedented
    novel; having no earlier occurrence
    In 1978, with Gold Box television support, every magazine on the schedule made a profit, an unprecedented turnaround.
  3. implication
    a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred
    There are enormous implications in Levanthal’s fear experiments and Wunderman’s work for Columbia Records for the question of how to start and tip social epidemics.
  4. contentious
    showing an inclination to disagree
    “We found to our surprise that our preschool audience didn’t like it when the adult cast got into a contentious discussion,” he remembers.
  5. salience
    the state of being significant
    Daniel Anderson says that new research suggests that children actually don’t like commercials as much as we thought they did because commercials “don’t tell stories, and stories have a particular salience and importance to young people.”
  6. soliloquy
    speech you make to yourself
    And in the course of the soliloquy, she even feels free to comment on the drollness of the course that events are taking (“Won’t that be funny”).
  7. eschew
    avoid and stay away from deliberately
    Here was a show that eschewed what turns out to be the most important of all ways of reaching young children.
  8. elicit
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    “I’d noticed that some segments on Sesame Street elicited a lot of interaction from kids, where the segments asked for it,” says Daniel Anderson, who worked with Nickelodeon in designing Blue’s Clues.
  9. inherent
    existing as an essential constituent or characteristic
    We all want to believe that the key to making an impact on someone lies with the inherent quality of the ideas we present.
  10. precipitous
    extremely steep
    From a high in 1990, the crime rate went into precipitous decline.
  11. anachronism
    a person who seems to be displaced in time
    In 1996, when Goetz went to trial a second time, as the defendant in a civil suit brought by Darrell Cabey, the case was all but ignored by the press, and Goetz himself seemed almost an anachronism.
  12. anarchy
    a state of lawlessness and disorder
    Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes.
  13. quixotic
    not sensible about practical matters
    Kelling, in fact, was his intellectual mentor, and so his first step as police chief was as seemingly quixotic as Gunn’s.
  14. capricious
    determined by chance or impulse rather than by necessity
    Of course which of these she is at any particular moment would not be random or capricious—it would depend on who she is with, when, how, and much, much more.
  15. aberrant
    markedly different from an accepted norm
    A crime is a relatively rare and aberrant event.
Created on Mon Nov 25 21:52:19 EST 2013 (updated Mon Jul 14 15:07:38 EDT 2025)

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