Word.ws English Dictionary

glass cliff

glass cliff noun: a phenomenon where women in leadership roles are likelier than men to achieve such roles during periods of crisis or downturn, when the risk of failure is highest.

Noun

glass cliff (plural glass cliffs)

  1. A phenomenon where women in leadership roles are likelier than men to achieve such roles during periods of crisis or downturn, when the risk of failure is highest.
    • Since her appointment, she [Linda Yaccarino] has been linked with the “glass cliff” theory, put forward in 2005 by researchers at the University of Exeter. The theory posits that women are more likely to be promoted or brought into top jobs at times of a crisis and thus set up for failure.2023 September 30, Hannah Murphy, “The wildest job in Silicon Valley”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18

Forms of glass cliff

pluralglass cliffs

Origin of glass cliff

Proposed in 2005, extending the glass ceiling metaphor.

Questions about glass cliff

What does glass cliff mean?
Glass cliff means a phenomenon where women in leadership roles are likelier than men to achieve such roles during periods of crisis or downturn, when the risk of failure is highest.
What part of speech is glass cliff?
Glass cliff is a noun.
What is the plural of glass cliff?
The plural of glass cliff is glass cliffs.

Words near glass cliff in the dictionary

  1. glass children
  2. glass chin
  3. glass chins
  4. glass cleaner
  5. glass cleaners
  6. glass cliff
  7. glass cliffs
  8. glass closet
  9. glass coach
  10. glass coaches
  11. glass cockpit

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: glass cliff (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.

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