kryptonite
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English
Etymology
From a fictional radioactive element, kryptonite, that has a detrimental effect on the otherwise invulnerable character Superman. Apparently formed as krypton (“a chemical element, Kr”) + -ite.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkɹɪptənaɪt/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
kryptonite (usually uncountable, plural kryptonites)
- (figuratively) The one weakness of something or someone that is otherwise invulnerable.
- Synonyms: Achilles heel, weakness; see also Thesaurus:weak spot
- 1991 October 25, Bryan Miller, “Restaurants: John Clancy's”, in New York Times[1]:
- The terrific seven-grain bread here is the kryptonite of restaurant reviewers: two mini-loaves and you are incapacitated.
- 2006 March 25, Jonathan Leggett, “Cult musicians”, in The Guardian:
- So while recording or sampling a Charlie Manson track […] makes for shock rock kudos aplenty, a devotion to Hubbard is kryptonite for credibility.
- 2016, Marlon Orlando Cole, Orphans: Nature's Beloved, page 93:
- We all have our own kryptonite or kryptonites, so don't tempt yourself by listening to so-called friends who are just demonic tools being used to bring you under.
- (slang) Crack cocaine.
Translations
weakness
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Verb
kryptonite (third-person singular simple present kryptonites, present participle kryptoniting, simple past and past participle kryptonited)
- To expose to, or attack with, kryptonite.
- 1998, Phillip Gwynne, Deadly Unna?, Melbourne: Penguin, page 173:
- And even those two were pretty puny, like Superman after he had been kryptonited.
- (figuratively) To destroy, wreck, or ruin; to affect adversely, as Superman is affected by kryptonite.
Further reading
- kryptonite on Wikipedia.Wikipedia