Baader-Meinhof phenomenon

[ bah-der-mahyn-hof fi-nom-uh-non, ‐nuhn ]

noun

1. the seemingly sudden awareness of encountering a word, phrase, fact, or thing that one has only recently learned of.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Baader-Meinhof phenomenon¹

First recorded in 1990–95 in a discussion thread in the St. Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minnesota) by a participant who had heard the name twice in close succession; named after the Baader-Meinhof Gang or Baader-Meinhof Group, a West German far-left terrorist group founded by Andreas Baader (1943–77) and Ulrike Meinhof (1934–76), and active in 1970–98

Example Sentences

Maybe it’s a Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon thing, when you think of something so much you start seeing it everywhere, or the algorithm.

From Los Angeles Times

It could be the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.

From Salon

Have you ever heard of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon?

From Scientific American

The stickers had been on car tyres since they were last tested but householders only started noticing them once they were pointed out - a frequency illusion called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.

From BBC

Like a terrible incarnation of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon – people learn about a virus and suddenly start seeing it everywhere – the fear is simple human psychology.

From The Guardian