Achilles' Heel Definition

ə-kĭlēz
noun
A seemingly small but actually crucial weakness.
American Heritage
(one's) Vulnerable or susceptible spot.
Webster's New World
Alternative spelling of Achilles heel.
Wiktionary

A vulnerability in an otherwise strong situation.

Wiktionary
(anatomy) The Achilles' tendon, the tendo Achillis.
Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Achilles' Heel

Noun

Singular:
Achilles' heel

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

  • 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

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to Achilles' heel using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

Words Ending With

Unscrambles

Achilles' heel