Word.ws English Dictionary

final nail in the coffin

final nail in the coffin noun: something that is ultimately responsible for a previously prospective demise or failure.

Noun

final nail in the coffin (plural final nails in the coffin)

  1. (idiomatic) Something that is ultimately responsible for a previously prospective demise or failure.
    • The Slurpie Shack franchise was already considering filing for bankruptcy after five years of poor profits, but a fire that destroyed the flagship restaurant was the final nail in the coffin.

Synonyms of final nail in the coffin

Forms of final nail in the coffin

pluralfinal nails in the coffin

Questions about final nail in the coffin

What does final nail in the coffin mean?
Final nail in the coffin means something that is ultimately responsible for a previously prospective demise or failure.
What part of speech is final nail in the coffin?
Final nail in the coffin is a noun.
What is the plural of final nail in the coffin?
The plural of final nail in the coffin is final nails in the coffin.

Words near final nail in the coffin in the dictionary

  1. final illness
  2. final illnesses
  3. Final Judgment
  4. final method
  5. final methods
  6. final nail in the coffin
  7. final nails in the coffin
  8. final obstruent devoicing
  9. final obstruent devoicings
  10. final order cutoff
  11. final order cutoffs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: final nail in the coffin (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-final nail in the coffin.ogg.

Cite this entry: “final nail in the coffin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/final_nail_in_the_coffin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.