Viewquake
noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A sudden drastic shift in someone's view on the world or a particular subject. informal
"This summer, though, one of Hanson's "viewquakes," as he likes to call them, became a genuine national sensation. The only problem was, everybody hated it. Hanson's brainchild was roundly condemned by several U.S. Senators, derided by the likes of Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and bond guru Bill Gross, and lampooned by late-night talk show hosts."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"This summer, though, one of Hanson's "viewquakes," as he likes to call them, became a genuine national sensation. The only problem was, everybody hated it. Hanson's brainchild was roundly condemned by several U.S. Senators, derided by the likes of Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and bond guru Bill Gross, and lampooned by late-night talk show hosts."
Etymology
From view + quake, modelled after earthquake. Coined by American economist Robin Hanson.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.