nail in the coffin
11
6.3
- idiom
- Informal
:
golpe final
- The recent budget cuts were the final nail in the coffin for the struggling non-profit organization.
- the final nail in the coffin
- the last nail in the coffin
- put the nail in the coffin
What do you think the final nail in the coffin will be if Trump wins again?
- What do you think the final nail in the coffin will be if Trump wins again?
- Omicron to destroy supply chains once again and really put a nail in the coffin of supply chains.
- But then I think that that trip away, that tour was the, it was the final nail in the coffin for my mental health.
- But whatever I had written there, you know, kind of like put the final nail in the coffin of our relationship.
- All of that has sealed one of the last nails in the coffin of Trump's presidential bid.
- S To me, it's sort of a symbolic nail in the coffin where it tells us that this is this is now a consensus.
- What's left to be revealed is just the nail in the coffin of just what an abject failure this entire Trumpism has been.
- And I kept track of the nails in the coffin of the up until, I don't know, five years ago or so.
- Like this would have been the nail in the coffin to Elon shower thought, because buying Twitter as a shower thought is just, it's, it's not even funny anymore.
Examples
-
I suspect this was the nail in the coffin for Romney as far as Ohio goes.
Blog text (12) -
I mean, you close this store and it's one more nail in the coffin.
-
But then I think that that trip away, that tour was the, it was the final nail in the coffin for my mental health.
-
But whatever I had written there, you know, kind of like put the final nail in the coffin of our relationship.
-
2012 was the final nail in the coffin for the rule of law.
Blog text (27) -
Netflix was really the nail in the coffin.
-
The conventions put the final nail in the coffin for me.
Blog text (13) -
But if it fails, it could represent another nail in the coffin of specialized services.
Academic text (2007) -
I firmly believe that the conference put the final nail in the coffin, placing the organization into the red and completely exhausting me.
Academic text (2018) -
No EIDL or PPP money means yet another nail in the coffin for small businesses.
Synonyms
7
6.2
An action or event that causes something to fail completely
5
8.1
An event or sign that shows something will end
An action or event that ends something completely
Antonyms
How Decisive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally evokes putting a nail into a coffin, which clearly signals causing or finalizing death, so the image of a finalizing act is accessible from the constituent meanings. However, the extension of that image to non-literal domains (a career, project, etc.) is metaphorical and may not be fully predictable to an average B1 learner without prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Nail in the coffin comes from the image of the last nail being driven into a closed coffin at a burial, the final act that finishes it. That's why the phrase now means the single event that causes the 'end' or 'failure' of something.