Word.ws English Dictionary

cobra effect

Syllables: co·bra ef·fect/ˌkəʊbɹə ɪˈfɛkt/US/ˌkoʊbɹə ɪˈfɛk(t)/

cobra effect noun: the phenomenon where an attempted solution to a problem has an unintended consequence that makes the original problem worse.

Noun

cobra effect (plural cobra effects)

  1. The phenomenon where an attempted solution to a problem has an unintended consequence that makes the original problem worse.
    • The short term effects of not prototyping can appear to be highly beneficial. After all, our groups seem to grow by leaps and bounds. What, though, is to be said about the long term effects if we fail to prototype? The consistent result is that the church is fatally bitten by the "cobra effect".2002, Leslie H. Brickman, “Prepare the Next Step”, in Preparing the 21st Century Church, [Maitland, Fla.?]: Xulon Press, →ISBN, page 326
    • The so-called ‘Cobra effect’ is one typical example of a side-effect that, when contrasted with the original intention, can be judged negatively. […] Even more problematically, the case can be made that just like with the ‘Cobra effect’, spoon-fed teaching methods stem from the initiatives of those...2014, Stefan Kühl, “Unwilling Recipients of Spoon-feeding”, in Tino Brömme, Harriet Bailey, Annika Henderson, Lesley Warren, transl., The Sudoku Effect: Universities in the Vicious Circle of...

Forms of cobra effect

pluralcobra effects

Origin of cobra effect

From cobra + effect, a calque of German Kobra-Effekt, coined by the German economist Horst Siebert (1938–2009) in a 2001 book, from an anecdote about an incident during the British rule of colonial India in the 19th century in which the government, concerned about the large number of venomous cobras in Delhi, offered a bounty for each dead cobra turned in, which eventually led to enterprising people breeding more cobras for the income. When the government discontinued the programme the breeders set their cobras free, which led to an increase in the cobra population.

Words that rhyme with cobra effect

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about cobra effect

What does cobra effect mean?
Cobra effect means the phenomenon where an attempted solution to a problem has an unintended consequence that makes the original problem worse.
What part of speech is cobra effect?
Cobra effect is a noun.
How do you pronounce cobra effect?
Cobra effect is pronounced /ˌkəʊbɹə ɪˈfɛkt/ (UK).
What is the plural of cobra effect?
The plural of cobra effect is cobra effects.

Words near cobra effect in the dictionary

  1. cobra
  2. cobra capella
  3. cobra chicken
  4. cobra chickens
  5. cobra de capello
  6. cobra effect
  7. cobra effects
  8. cobra lilies
  9. cobra lily
  10. cobra pose
  11. cobra saffron

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cobra effect (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cobra effect.wav.

Cite this entry: “cobra effect.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cobra_effect. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.