death blow

noun

variants or deathblow

ˈdeth-ˌblō 

1

: a forcible stroke that kills a living thing : an act that ends the life of a person or animal

A gaping wound in the back of his head suggests the death blow was delivered by a halberd, a bladed pole weapon favored in the 15th century.

—Rachel Ehrenberg

… the tooth helps to dislocate the prey's neck vertebrae, the death blow most often dealt to small mammals and birds.

—Sarah A. Sloane

2

: an act or event that causes the end or failure of something

It shows how investors with risky business plans, unrealistic financial assumptions, and competing agendas can deliver a death blow to companies that otherwise could have survived.

—Emily Thornton

Nevis's fortunes declined after 1822, when the European sugar beet dealt a deathblow to the distant, inefficient cane mills of the Indies.

—Peter Theroux

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

For Aragon, Nancy’s new affair was literally almost a death blow. —Town & Country, 5 Mar. 2023

After months of silence, Bannon and Epshteyn delivered what appeared to be a death blow to $FJB holders this month when Sarah posted an announcement on Discord on Feb. 13 that the duo was walking away from the project. —Laura Romero, ABC News, 23 Feb. 2023

In 1964, the monumental discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation — direct evidence of a young, hot universe — would deal the final deathblow to the steady state model. —Mara Johnson-groh, Discover Magazine, 3 Jan. 2020

Put it this way: This isn’t a deathblow for anyone involved. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 5 Sep. 2022

Could war in Ukraine be a deathblow for nuclear power? —Joel Mathis, The Week, 28 Feb. 2022

The case’s deathblow came in January, when the Energy Department official told prosecutors the agency didn’t believe Mr. Chen’s foreign positions would have mattered in 2017. —Aruna Viswanatha, WSJ, 26 Jan. 2022

Meleager, whose spear provides the final deathblow, has been moved from the left side of the marble composition to a central position in the painting. —Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2021

Concerned workers worry that the second lockdown could be a deathblow to their already struggling industry. —Hollie Silverman, CNN, 23 Nov. 2020

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Word History

First Known Use

circa 1586, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

deathblow

noun

death·​blow -ˌblō 

: a destructive or killing stroke or event