kiss of life
- noun
- Informal
:
nuevo impulso
- The new marketing strategy was the kiss of life that the struggling company needed to revive its sales.
Examples
-
After months of hard work, the grant arrived just in time as the kiss of life for the failing project.
-
The artist's latest exhibit provided a kiss of life to her once-dwindling reputation in the art world.
-
She wants me to give her the kiss of life.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A person or thing that brings something back to life and success
1
3.8
A fresh start that makes something lively and useful again
Antonyms
How Reviving
- Specialized
22
6.1
- Informal
52
4.2
153
2.7
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'kiss' and 'life' make the basic idea — a kiss that gives or restores life — fairly inferable, so learners who know the words can often guess it means something that revitalizes. However, the meaning depends on a metaphorical/cultural association with resuscitation (mouth-to-mouth) and is used figuratively, so the exact sense and usage are not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
Kiss of life was later used as a picture of revival: because a real kiss could bring someone back to breathing, people used the phrase for anything that gives new energy. That's why it now means 'something that saves or revives'.