silver bullet

Definition of silver bullet

: something that acts as a magical weapon especially : one that instantly solves a long-standing problem

Examples of silver bullet in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Farmers and experts say this is one piece to a solution, but not a silver bullet. — Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Tony Evers pitches $8.5 million plan to a weary dairy industry," 23 Jan. 2020 Not a silver bullet, but a new mindset There are about 1.3 million great whales in Earth’s oceans today. — Madeleine Stone, National Geographic, "How much is a whale worth?," 24 Sep. 2019 Feels like there’s a better silver bullet out there. — oregonlive, "Canzano: Fox and Pac-12 selling different story on potential 9 a.m. football kickoffs," 10 Dec. 2019 The technology to slow climate change already exists (no silver bullet is required, though Bill Gates is welcome to keep searching for one). — Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, "The Climate Anxiety Decade: How We Came to Terms With Our Warming World in the 2010s," 10 Dec. 2019 Taxing meat is definitely not an uncontroversial policy option or a silver bullet. — Sigal Samuel, Vox, "We put a “sin tax” on cigarettes and alcohol. Why not meat?," 11 Aug. 2019 Charters are not the silver bullet described in the CREDO study. — Jean Marbella, baltimoresun.com, "Study: Maryland charter students’ gains outpace those at traditional schools; black, Hispanic pupils benefit most," 16 July 2019 Not a silver bullet Finland is committed to reducing social isolation and loneliness among vulnerable populations. — Annabelle Timsit, Quartz, "“She comes, they are happy”: How communal grandparents are helping raise Finnish children," 6 Dec. 2019 Hooimeijer echoes that Zoncolan is not a silver bullet. — Lily Hay Newman, WIRED, "How Facebook Catches Bugs in Its 100 Million Lines of Code," 15 Aug. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'silver bullet.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

6 Feb 2020

Cite this Entry

“Silver bullet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/silver%20bullet. Accessed 17 Feb. 2020.

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