Word.ws English Dictionary

Shirky principle

Shirky principle proper noun: the idea that institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.

Proper noun

the Shirky principle

  1. The idea that institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.

Origin of Shirky principle

Named after the American technology writer Clay Shirky.

Questions about Shirky principle

What does Shirky principle mean?
Shirky principle means the idea that institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.
What part of speech is Shirky principle?
Shirky principle is a proper noun.

Words near Shirky principle in the dictionary

  1. Shirkeys
  2. shirking
  3. shirkings
  4. shirks
  5. shirky
  6. Shirky principle
  7. shirl
  8. Shirland
  9. Shirland and Higham
  10. shirled
  11. Shirley

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Shirky principle (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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Cite this entry: “Shirky principle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shirky_principle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.