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Glite Dictionary
deathblow to

deathblow to

1 7.6
An action or event that ends something completely
  • idiom
  • Informal
: golpe mortal a
  • The recent scandal was a deathblow to the politician's career, ending any chance of reelection.

Examples

  • The financial crisis dealt a deathblow to many small businesses, forcing them to close down.

  • But its opposition to the Communal Award caused a deathblow to its popularity among the Muslims because the urban members in Congress outweighed the rural members in the Punjab.

    Academic text (2018)

  • The unexpected loss was a deathblow to the team's hopes of winning the championship this year.

Synonyms

undoing
vsdeathblow to
18 4.9

A cause of someone's failure or ruin

is an act that ends something completely, not only causing failure
nail in the coffin
vsdeathblow to
  • Informal
14 6.3

A last action that makes something fail completely

is the single act that completely destroys rather than merely contributing
kiss of death
vsdeathblow to
9 6.2

An action or event that causes something to fail completely

is a direct destroyer that ends things now rather than causing inevitability
death knell
vsdeathblow to
9 8.1

An event or sign that shows something will end

is an event that itself destroys or ends, not just a sign
wipeout
vsdeathblow to
5 6.3

Complete destruction that leaves nothing left

is not just total loss but any decisive act that ends something
deathblow
vsdeathblow to
2 7.9

A final action that kills or ends something completely

is any act that completely destroys or ends something
finish
vsdeathblow to
  • Informal
7.9

The end that brings a person or thing to ruin

focuses on a single act that completely destroys rather than merely marking defeat

Antonyms

revival
82 4.2

A return of interest or activity after a time of decline

How Decisive

deathblow to
  • Informal
1 7.6
destruction
764 3.0
ruin
90 3.2
blow
165 4.4
setback
135 3.6

Surface Forms

deathblow to singular
deathblows to plural

Morphology

deathblow + to

The compound 'deathblow' is directly built from 'death' + 'blow' to mean a fatal strike, and the preposition 'to' simply marks the target of that fatal action; the metaphorical extension to non-literal targets (e.g., an economy) follows a straightforward compositional pattern. This mapping is cross-linguistically common and predictable, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would very likely infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Deathblow to comes from the image of a final, powerful blow that causes death, the last hit that ends a fight. That's why calling something the deathblow to a plan or company means it 'completely destroys' or 'puts an end to' it.