Landslide means winning an election by an enormous margin, like when a candidate receives 70% of the vote while their opponent gets only 30%. In a landslide victory, one side doesn't just win: they completely dominate. The term suggests the winner swept through like an unstoppable force.

The word comes from an actual landslide, where tons of earth and rock suddenly rush down a mountainside. Just as real landslides are massive and overwhelming, an election landslide buries the opposition under an avalanche of votes.

Landslide can also describe literal landslides: when heavy rain or an earthquake loosens soil on a steep hillside, causing earth and rocks to slide downward in a dangerous rush. These geological events happen quickly and powerfully, transforming landscapes in minutes.

When someone says a decision was “not even close” or that one team “crushed” another, they're describing something landslide-like. A landslide victory shows that voters (or players, or students) weren't just slightly in favor of something, they overwhelmingly chose one side over the other.