Idiom used to express something that brings about one's destruction in a very precise and effective way? [closed]

Question

From the point of view of the werewolf, the silver bullet is far from having a positive connotation. What similarly idiomatic word or expression could be used to express something that brings about one's destruction in a very precise and effective –sort of perfect-storm– kind of way?

The context is a promising technology or product that failed due to unrelated and unexpected conditions and/or developments in the market (here there is no fault on the part of the market-player; it's just mere chance). I can imagine this extending perhaps to literary evil characters which had contrived a very clever way to become strong or invincible, but the archetypal weaker character exploits a weakness that the villain did not consider (here there is perhaps some fault/blame to be assigned).

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The fictional mineral "kryptonite" is defined by oxforddictionaries.com as

(in science fiction) an alien mineral with the property of depriving Superman of his powers

This word is often used in popular culture to refer to a singular weakness exhibited by an otherwise competent, or even hyper-competent, individual.

Answer 2

Consider an "Achilles heel."

noun

1. a portion, spot, area, or the like, that is especially or solely vulnerable:

His Achilles heel is his quick temper.

Answer 3

The literary term is a tragic flaw.

Tragic flaw is a literary device that can be defined as a trait in a character leading to his downfall and the character is often the hero of the literary piece. This trait could be the lack of self-knowledge, lack of judgment and often it is hubris (pride).

The Greek word for Tragic flaw is hamaratia or hamartanein that means “to err”. It was Aristotle who introduced this term first in his book the Poetics and his idea was that it is an “error of judgment” on the part of a hero that brings his downfall. A tragic flaw is also called a fatal flaw in literature and films. This is taken as a defective trait in the character of the hero.

While the silver bullet is often thought of as the perfect weapon to wield against a strong person, the tragic flaw is something within that person.

-- Edit "fatal flaw" ---

As HotLicks and C.M Weimer pointed out in comments, fatal flaw is in wider use. A quick-and-dirty Google Ngram shows fatal flaw with around three times the frequency of tragic flaw (although they came remarkably close in 1950).

Answer 4

Our promising technology was a victim of circumstances.

... or ...

Our promising technology failed due to circumstances beyond our control.

Definition of circumstance.
1a : a condition, fact, or event accompanying, conditioning, or determining another : an essential or inevitable concomitant.
<the weather is a circumstance to be taken into consideration> — M-W

Also see http://m.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-victim-of-circumstance.htm

Answer 5

Achilles heel is good when it refers to a very specific vulnerability, an innate, fatal flaw in the subject. For instance, the silver bullet is the werewolf's Achilles heel.

When referring to something that is not exactly its only vulnerability, but unfolds as an affliction, bane might be the word you are looking for.

bane ‎(plural banes)

A cause of misery or death; an affliction or curse

the bane of my existence

In the context of software, a desire to cater to too wide an audience might be the bane of an otherwise perfectly usable application. Having too many different buttons and features can overwhelm users who only need basic point-and-shoot functionality.

Answer 6

Addressing your context, it sounds like the product went down like a lead balloon which contrasts nicely with silver (or magic) bullet. But I doubt you're likely to find an idiom that answers both the no fault (market) need and the other combative or malicious case.

Answer 7

For your specific scenario of a product failing due to a bad market, a good option would be perfect storm

A "perfect storm" is an expression that describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances will aggravate a situation drastically

Wikipedia

So, as per your example:

The product was excellent by it's own merits, but suffered under a perfect storm of market forces.

Answer 8

nemesis /ˈneməsəs/ noun

the inescapable agent of someone's or something's downfall. –Google

Answer 9

You could describe something with the adjective laser-guided or laser-precise. As in: laser-guided munitions, laser-guided attack, etc.

Answer 10

If you're willing to look into Sci-fi literature, I think the shatterpoint is the most apt.

In the Star Wars EU, a Force user could focus on an object, a person, or an event. They would see that thing's origin, how it formed, its entire history. Then, the Force user could use this intimate knowledge to effortlessly change or destroy the thing in question. This has been used to destroy blast doors, pure Mandalorian iron (like adamantium in the Marvel universe), etc. The word itself is pretty evocative of an object's fundamental crux, and might be the sort of thing a society without Star Wars might come up with. It's a ninety pound monk with no muscles destroying a tree with one punch because he hits it just right.

Also, "fundamental crux" is also pretty apt. The core challenge, which, once overcome, changes a nigh-insurmountable problem into a straightforward one.

Answer 11

In software development the opposite of "silver bullet" are terms like "rat hole"

(A) Bob's framework is a silver bullet for responsive UI.

(B) Bob's framework is a rat hole for responsive UI.

(A) makes a hard problem easy, (B) makes a hard problem impossible.

Answer 12

It was the beginning of the end for HD-DVD once Blu-Ray acquired exclusive rights to XYZ studio's movies.

Answer 13

Some good answers here; the only thing I'd add is that this description:

a promising technology or product that failed due to unrelated and unexpected conditions and/or developments in the market (here there is no fault on the part of the market-player; it's just mere chance)

suggests to me a phrase like caught in the crossfire or perhaps overtaken by events.

Answer 14

I suggest "hoist by your own petard"; an idiom from Shakespeare that means "to be harmed by one's own plan to harm someone else"

For example, the Green Goblin tried to use his glider to impale Spiderman; but winds up impaling himself instead. I.e. GG was hoisted by his own petard.

Answer 15

It seems you get to color your own idiom with this one.

• "Garbage heap of history" - official TASS translation of a Yuri
  Andropov speech.

• "Ash heap of history" - from a speech by Ronald Reagan.

• "Dustbin of history" - popularized the phrase, so it would seem, from a speech by Leon Trotski in 1917.

• "Dust heap of history" - Apparently the original, from British writer Augustine Birrell, 1877.

All of the above came from New York Times Magazine, "On Language; Dust Heaps of History", by William Safire, 1983: http://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/16/magazine/on-language-dust-heaps-of-history.html

These phrases are often presented as *consigned to the X heap of history."

To use a popular urban legend as an example, I would say that the General Motors streetcar conspiracy sought to consign urban rail transit to the dustbin of history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy

In formal writing, it often appears as "the proverbial dustbin of history" when used outside the context of politics.

In light of the productive nature of this idea, I think you could get away with consigning an app or progy to the bit bucket of history. Googling the phase nets several hundred hits, some reasonably formal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_bucket