baader-meinhof phenomenon
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.83 in modern English
41
Scrabble Score
23
Letters
4
Syllables
12
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A cognitive bias by which a recently learned word, concept, etc. suddenly seems to appear with improbable frequency.
Example Sentences
- "There’s a well-known cognitive bias where, after you become aware of something new, you start seeing it everywhere. It’s known as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, but from this year, I’ll think of it as the Katy B effect, after Katy on a Mission became the unexpected soundtrack of my summer."
Etymology
Named in 1994 after the West German Baader-Meinhof Group of the 1970s, when a commentator unexpectedly heard two references to the group within 24 hours. The group is named after two of its leaders, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof.