Achilles' Heel Definition
A vulnerability in an otherwise strong situation.
Origin of Achilles' Heel
Although the legend is ancient, the phrase wasn't picked up in English until the 19th century. It is used as a metaphor for vulnerability, as in the earliest citation, an essay by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in The Friend; a literary, moral and political weekly paper, 1810:
From Wiktionary
The legend of Achilles has it that he was dipped into the river Styx by his mother Thetis in order to make him invulnerable. His heel wasn't covered by the water and he was later killed by an arrow wound to his heel.
From Wiktionary
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From Greek hero Achilles, whom according to legend his mother held by the heel when she dipped him in the River Styx, making him invulnerable everywhere except on his heel.
From Wiktionary
From Achilles' being vulnerable only in the heel
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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