coup de grace
- noun
- /kuː də ˈɡrɑːs/
:
coup de grâce
- When the elephant was too injured to recover, the vet decided to give it a coup de grace to end its suffering.
Examples
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Yeah, what was his coup de grace tonight?
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Consider this the coup de grace.
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And then the the icing, the the coup de grace, never before has a sitting speaker of the House been removed.
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And then the the icing, the the coup de grace, never before has a sitting speaker of the House been removed.
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If a coup de grace is necessary, as your referee, I will administer it myself.
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An attack would actually suit Iran, which would be transformed overnight into a victim, thereby giving the coup de grace to US power and provoking the collapse of Israel.
Blog text (16) -
And the coup de grace, toss in the fact that he is playing baccarat whenever he's sober enough to make his way down to the tables to the tune of $300,000 a week.
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The politician's resignation was the coup de grace for his already troubled administration.
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After years of struggle, the latest scandal provided the coup de grace that forced her to step down.
Synonyms
1
7.9
A final action that kills or ends something completely
How Final
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally combines coup (a decisive/blow-like act) + de (of) + grace (mercy), so a learner who knows those constituents can plausibly infer a ‘decisive, merciful finishing action.’ However, because it is a French loan phrase with idiomatic usage and subtle connotations (merciful final blow) that may not be fully predictable or frequent for a B1 learner, it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Coup de grace comes from French and literally means 'blow of mercy': coup is 'blow' and grace is 'mercy', so it was the final strike given to end a wounded person's pain. That's why coup de grace now means a final, decisive action that finishes something or ends suffering.