Definition

1. Noun:
   • A seemingly small but actual mortal weakness: A single, critical vulnerability or flaw in an otherwise strong person, system, or thing that can lead to failure or downfall.

Usage

• The term is used to describe a fundamental weakness that is often hidden or not obvious but is potentially disastrous.
• It is typically used in a singular form (), not .
• It functions as a countable noun and is often preceded by a possessive form (e.g., ).

Examples

• Noun:
  • His pride was his achilles' heel, leading to his eventual downfall.
  • The team's strong defense has one achilles' heel: their vulnerability to counter-attacks.
  • For all her intelligence, her lack of patience is her achilles' heel.

Advanced Usage

• "to be/prove to be someone's/something's achilles' heel": To be the factor that causes failure.
  • The software's complexity proved to be its achilles' heel, as users found it too difficult to operate.
• Used in analytical or critical contexts to identify a point of failure in strategies, arguments, or designs.

Variants and Related Words

• Vulnerability (n): The quality of being easily hurt or attacked.
• Weak spot/point (n): A place or area where someone or something is weak.
• Fatal flaw (n): A defect that causes ruin or failure.
• Chink in one's armor (idiom): A vulnerable area.

Synonyms

• Weakness
• Vulnerability
• Soft spot
• Fatal flaw

Related Idioms

• Chink in the armor: A small but significant weakness in someone or something that is otherwise strong.
  • The scandal revealed a chink in the armor of the seemingly perfect candidate.
• Achilles tendon (Anatomical term): The tendon connecting the calf muscles to the heel bone. This is the physical origin of the mythological term.

Noun

1. a seemingly small but actual mortal weakness