Word.ws English Dictionary

Diderot effect

Diderot effect noun: a phenomenon in which acquiring a new possession leads to a spiral of consumption that results in the acquisition of even more possessions.

Noun

Diderot effect (plural Diderot effects)

  1. A phenomenon in which acquiring a new possession leads to a spiral of consumption that results in the acquisition of even more possessions.

Forms of Diderot effect

pluralDiderot effects

Origin of Diderot effect

Named after French philosopher Denis Diderot who first described the effect in 1769.

Questions about Diderot effect

What does Diderot effect mean?
Diderot effect means a phenomenon in which acquiring a new possession leads to a spiral of consumption that results in the acquisition of even more possessions.
What part of speech is Diderot effect?
Diderot effect is a noun.
What is the plural of Diderot effect?
The plural of Diderot effect is Diderot effects.

Words near Diderot effect in the dictionary

  1. dideoxythymidines
  2. didepside
  3. diderm
  4. diderms
  5. Diderot
  6. Diderot effect
  7. Diderot effects
  8. Diderotian
  9. didesmethyldoxylamine
  10. dideuteride
  11. dideuterides

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Diderot 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:

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