break containment

English

Etymology

Originated in this sense the microblogging and social media platform Tumblr. Originally military or science-fiction jargon for something dangerous escaping.

Verb

break containment (third-person singular simple present breaks containment, present participle breaking containment, simple past broke containment, past participle broken containment)

1. (social media, originally fandom slang) Of a post or piece of media, to be shown to a larger audience than originally intended; typically either to a non-fandom community or to an outside platform.

   This meme broke containment when it was posted to Reddit.

Related terms

• containment breach

See also

• viral