safety valve

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The notwithstanding clause was brought in as a safety valve.

From BBC • Mar. 22, 2026

The port of Yanbu has emerged as a vital safety valve for Saudi crude, allowing Riyadh to bypass the paralyzed Strait of Hormuz by piping oil via its East-West pipeline.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

It is an essential safety valve that remains "effective only if the conflict doesn't last too long", cautioned Perrin.

From Barron's • Mar. 10, 2026

Elon Musk thinks humankind’s only safety valve is to move multitudes to Mars.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 24, 2025

There is one valve closed by a weight, although it is not in this case a safety valve; however, Papin describes the operation of such a valve.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton