waterloo

IPA/ˌwɔːtəˈluː/
KK[wˈɔtɚlˌu]IPA/ˌwɔːtərˈluː/

waterloo — noun

1. a complete loss or setback that brings an end to a person's or group's earlier s

1.nounC1
Definition

a complete loss or setback that brings an end to a person's or group's earlier success, influence, or efforts

Example

The ambitious plan to expand overseas proved to be the company's waterloo.

possessive pattern: [person/organisation]'s waterloo

For the veteran politician, the scandal over campaign funds became her political waterloo.

collocation: political waterloo

Common collocations
  • meet one's waterloo
  • political waterloo
  • the company's waterloo
  • prove to be someone's waterloo
  • become someone's waterloo
Synonyms
  • downfall

    more common in everyday speech; less tied to the idea of a final battle

  • undoing

    emphasises that the person caused their own defeat through their actions

  • ruin

    stronger and more permanent; implies total destruction, not just defeat

  • crushing defeat

    more literal and descriptive; lacks the historical reference of 'waterloo'

Antonyms
  • triumph

    a great victory or achievement

  • comeback

    a return to success after a period of difficulty

Usage Note

Often used in the possessive pattern '[person/organisation]'s waterloo' or with the verb 'meet' in the phrase 'meet one's waterloo'. The word usually appears with a possessive determiner (his, her, its, the company's).

Common Mistakes

The team reached their waterloo after losing three games.
The team met their waterloo after losing three games.
The standard verb used with 'waterloo' is 'meet', not 'reach'.
Waterloo is a type of defeat.
A waterloo is a very specific kind of defeat
one that is final and ends a period of success.' — Using 'waterloo' without a possessive sounds unnatural in most contexts.

waterloo — idiom

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe a person's loss of success or position, but they differ in scope and tone. 'Downfall' (C1) is the most general term — it refers to the event or cause of a loss of power, money, or status, often through personal weakness or outside forces ('greed was his downfall'). 'Undoing' (C2) strongly implies that the person's own actions or flaws caused the defeat ('his arrogance was his undoing'). 'Ruin' (B2) is broader and more severe, covering financial destruction or physical decay as well as personal defeat ('the scandal brought ruin to the family name'). 'Crushing defeat' (B2) is a descriptive phrase rather than a single word and focuses on the emotional impact of losing. 'Waterloo' (C1) is the most dramatic of the five — it carries a literary tone and always suggests a single decisive event that ends a period of victory. You might say 'the scandal was the politician's downfall' (a factor in a gradual decline), but 'the election loss was her waterloo' (the single moment that ended it all).

downfall ↗undoing ↗ruin ↗crushing defeat

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • someone's political waterloo
  • meet one's Waterloo

Etymology

Dutch/FlemishEnglish

The word 'waterloo' comes from the Battle of Waterloo, fought on 18 June 1815 in present-day Belgium. There, the British and Prussian armies under the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard von Blücher defeated Napoleon Bonaparte's French army once and for all, ending his rule as Emperor of France. Because this battle was Napoleon's final, decisive loss after years of military success, the name 'Waterloo' became a metaphor for any final defeat that follows a period of triumph. The idiom 'meet one's Waterloo' appeared in English in the early 1800s, soon after the battle, and remains in use today.

First known use

1816

1816, in the meaning defined above