Meaning & use
Waterloo
A final and decisive defeat, from Napoleon's crushing loss at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
See it in a sentence
The debate turned out to be the candidate's Waterloo, ending his campaign for good.
After years of success, the outdated strategy finally became the company's Waterloo.
A note on using this word
Waterloo appears almost always in the phrase meet one's Waterloo, referring to the battle that ended Napoleon's rule.
Words with a similar meaning
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Words with an opposite meaning
Another way to use it
2. proper noun
A town in present-day Belgium, site of the 1815 battle where Napoleon was finally defeated.
Tourists visit Waterloo today to see the monument commemorating the historic battle.
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