kiss of death
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
An action that causes certain failure.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Financial problems aside, the company had already received the kiss of death in that, two years ago, the Department of Trade and Industry chose to feature it as a prime example of the Enterprise Initiative.
Tesco were the grocery chain and the Green Shield Stamps and it was the kiss of death for Green Shield when they did that.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “kiss of death” mean?
An action that causes certain failure.
Is “kiss of death” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.