SINCE 1828
kiss of death
noun phraseDefinition of kiss of death
: something (such as an act or association) ultimately causing ruin
The movie has a G rating, which is almost a kiss of death. Last year, fewer than 2% of new films were rated G, and nearly all of those were animated. — Sports Illustrated
—usually used with the Not long ago, when I proposed to my agent that she champion a book of mine as a work of literature instead of trying to present it as a "Sixties memoir," she told me, with a rueful laugh, that in publishing circles nowadays the "L" word is the kiss of death.— Joel Agee… a faraway region whose populations are so deeply anti-Western that any government cooperation with America can be the kiss of death …— Alan Tonelson
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The first known use of kiss of death was in 1943
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