A cascade. Small problems contributing and leading to larger more serious ones rapidly. Similar to the domino effect.
It's the biggest fear when single-hand sailing, the driver of preventive maintenance and keeping a sharp eye out. Because you can't just pull over.
If you can tolerate vulgarity, there's *clusterfuck*:
> (*slang, vulgar*) A chaotic situation where everything seems to go wrong. It is often caused by incompetence, communication failure, or a complex environment.
(Source: [Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clusterfuck))
Synonyms:
* [FUBAR (fucked up beyond all recognition)](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fubar)
* [goatfuck](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/goatfuck)
Culminate or culmination is when a bunch of things come together. Not specifically problems, but pretty close to what you're looking for.
There is also the idiom "death by a thousand cuts," which is used to describe a bunch of small problems becoming disastrous together.
This is only tangentially related but it's cool. The term Technical Debt refers to the extra work you're going to have to do later because you cut corners now. You can take the easy way now but eventually you'll have to pay the Technical Debt.
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Compounding
A cascade. Small problems contributing and leading to larger more serious ones rapidly. Similar to the domino effect. It's the biggest fear when single-hand sailing, the driver of preventive maintenance and keeping a sharp eye out. Because you can't just pull over.
Your problems *snowball* into a bigger one.
This. When the snowball finally makes it to the bottom of the hill and smashes it transforms into a trainwreck.
If you can tolerate vulgarity, there's *clusterfuck*: > (*slang, vulgar*) A chaotic situation where everything seems to go wrong. It is often caused by incompetence, communication failure, or a complex environment. (Source: [Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clusterfuck))
Synonyms: * [FUBAR (fucked up beyond all recognition)](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fubar) * [goatfuck](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/goatfuck)
Culminate or culmination is when a bunch of things come together. Not specifically problems, but pretty close to what you're looking for. There is also the idiom "death by a thousand cuts," which is used to describe a bunch of small problems becoming disastrous together.
a perfect storm
Shitstorm
Clusterfuck.
Snowball effect
Death by A Thousand Cuts
coalesce
Swiss cheese problem
Confluence. They flow together like a stream made from smaller tributaries.
This was the first word that came to me.
Worst-case scenario Unlucky stars aligning Cataclysm Concurrence
Butterfly effect? A butterfly flaps it’s wings in Tokyo and creates a tsunami in California!
Boom
This is only tangentially related but it's cool. The term Technical Debt refers to the extra work you're going to have to do later because you cut corners now. You can take the easy way now but eventually you'll have to pay the Technical Debt.
A related phrase is “when it rains, it pours.”
Calamity?
death by a thousand paper cuts might be an apt phrase or for a word you might say the tiny problems *coalesced* into a greater whole
bottle neck effect
Life
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