POINT OF NO RETURN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does point of no return mean? 

• POINT OF NO RETURN (noun)
  The noun POINT OF NO RETURN has 1 sense:

1. a line that when crossed permits of no return and typically results in irrevocable commitment

  Familiarity information: POINT OF NO RETURN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POINT OF NO RETURN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A line that when crossed permits of no return and typically results in irrevocable commitment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

point of no return; Rubicon

Hypernyms ("point of no return" is a kind of...):

contrast; demarcation; dividing line; line (a conceptual separation or distinction)

 Context examples 

Anything that comes within a black hole's "event horizon," its point of no return, will be consumed, never to re-emerge, because of the black hole's unimaginably strong gravity.

(Black Hole Image Makes History, NASA)

The debris from such a tidal disruption became very hot and produced X-rays before disappearing forever across the black hole's point of no return, or event horizon.

(NASA’s Chandra Detects Record-Breaking Outburst from Milky Way’s Black Hole, NASA)

Inside the photon ring is the black hole’s shadow, an area roughly twice the size of the event horizon — its point of no return.

(NASA Visualization Shows a Black Hole’s Warped World, NASA)

The study presents multiple lines of evidence, incorporating 40 years of observations that indicate the glaciers in the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica have passed the point of no return, according to glaciologist and lead author Eric Rignot, of UC Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

(West Antarctic Glacier loss appears unstoppable, NASA)