landslide

landslide — noun

1. the movement of a large amount of earth, rock, and mud sliding down a mountainsi

1.nounB1
Definition

the movement of a large amount of earth, rock, and mud sliding down a mountainside or steep hill, which can block roads or damage buildings

Example

The heavy rain caused a landslide that blocked the mountain road for three days.

collocation: cause a landslide

Eleni's village was evacuated after a landslide destroyed several houses below the slope.

passive: be evacuated after a landslide

Common collocations
  • cause a landslide
  • trigger a landslide
  • survive a landslide
  • landslide zone
  • landslide debris
Synonyms
  • rockslide

    more specific — refers to a landslide made mostly of rock, not soil or mud

  • mudslide

    more specific — refers to a landslide with a high water content, mostly mud

2. a situation in which a political party or candidate wins an election by a huge m

2.nounB2
Definition

a situation in which a political party or candidate wins an election by a huge majority of votes, far more than any opponent receives

Example

The Green Party won the election by a landslide, gaining seventy percent of the vote.

collocation: win by a landslide

Tanvi won the mayoral race by a landslide, beating her opponent by a million votes.

Common collocations
  • win by a landslide
  • landslide victory
  • landslide election
  • in a landslide
  • predict a landslide
Synonyms
  • rout

    emphasizes the loser's defeat and humiliation rather than the winner's margin

  • blowout

    informal, especially American English — suggests a surprisingly large margin

  • sweep

    emphasizes winning all or most contests rather than the vote margin

Antonyms
  • photo finish

    an election where the result is extremely close, the opposite of a landslide

Usage Note

Commonly used in the fixed phrase 'win by a landslide' or the compound 'landslide victory.' The noun is almost always singular.

Common Mistakes

The candidate won a landslide of votes.
The candidate won by a landslide.
'landslide' describes the type of result, not a quantity. The correct structure is 'by a landslide' to describe the winning margin.

landslide — verb

Word family

  • landsliding
    adjectiveC1
  • landslided
    verb (past)C1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/2

A landslide is an election victory with a very large margin — the winner gets far more votes than the opponent, but not necessarily every contest. A rout emphasizes the loser's humiliation ('the party suffered a rout'), while landslide focuses on the winner's overwhelming margin. Blowout (informal, mainly American English) is similar to landslide but suggests the result was surprisingly one-sided. Sweep describes winning all or most individual contests in an election ('the party swept the swing states'), emphasizing breadth rather than margin. Walkover (British English) means an easy win because the opposition is very weak or absent. Use landslide for a decisive election result where the margin is clearly and historically large. Example: 'The president won a landslide that gave her party full control of both houses.' vs 'The scandal led to a rout for the ruling party in local elections.'

landslide ↗rout ↗blowoutsweep ↗walkover

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • by a landslide
  • in a landslide

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Landslide is a combination of 'land' (from Old English 'land', meaning ground or earth) and 'slide' (from Old English 'slīdan', meaning to glide or slip). The literal meaning — earth sliding down a slope — dates back to the 16th century. The figurative political meaning, describing an overwhelming election victory as if the sheer mass of votes were a geological force, first appeared in American English around the 1830s.