kiss of death
kiss of death noun: a kiss on the cheek that signifies the death of the receiver, as delivered by a mob boss or one with such influence.
Noun
kiss of death (plural kisses of death)
- A kiss on the cheek that signifies the death of the receiver, as delivered by a mob boss or one with such influence.
- Something that may seem good and favorable but that actually brings ruin to hopes, plans, etc.
- The role in the soap opera was the kiss of death for Ann's career as a theatrical actress.
- Confronted with the savage defenses, many of the Japanese pilots flinched. Failure to hold formation was the kiss of death. As they reached the crucial moment of decision—push ahead and drop the torpedo, or lose nerve and turn away—most chose the latter. Turning, they lost airspeed and showed their...2011, James D. Hornfischer, “26: Suicide”, in Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, retrieved 17 Dec 2022, page 256
Forms of kiss of death
| plural | kisses of death |
|---|
Origin of kiss of death
From the Biblical reference that when Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, he kissed Jesus.
Questions about kiss of death
- What does kiss of death mean?
- Kiss of death means a kiss on the cheek that signifies the death of the receiver, as delivered by a mob boss or one with such influence.
- What part of speech is kiss of death?
- Kiss of death is a noun.
- What is the plural of kiss of death?
- The plural of kiss of death is kisses of death.
Words near kiss of death in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kiss of death (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-kiss of death.ogg.
Cite this entry: “kiss of death.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kiss_of_death. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.