albatross around one's neck
albatross around one's neck noun: a characteristic, possession, associate, or previous deed that hinders one's ability to succeed.
Noun
albatross around one's neck
- A characteristic, possession, associate, or previous deed that hinders one's ability to succeed.
- He bought the properties last year hoping to make a profit by reselling them; however, with the economic downturn, they have become an albatross around his neck.
- Less attention was paid to the albatross that Bain, KKR, and Vornado had placed around the company’s neck. Toys “R” Us had a debt load of $1.86 billion before it was bought out.2018 June 13, Bryce Covert, “The Demise of Toys 'R' Us Is a Warning”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN
Forms of albatross around one's neck
| alternative form | albatross round one's neck |
|---|
Origin of albatross around one's neck
From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, wherein a sailor's killing of an albatross brings bad luck and results in the dead bird being hung around the killer's neck by his crewmates.
Questions about albatross around one's neck
- What does albatross around one's neck mean?
- Albatross around one's neck means a characteristic, possession, associate, or previous deed that hinders one's ability to succeed.
- What part of speech is albatross around one's neck?
- Albatross around one's neck is a noun.
Words near albatross around one's neck in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: albatross around one's neck (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-albatross around one's neck.ogg.
Cite this entry: “albatross around one's neck.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/albatross_around_one%27s_neck. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.