Waterloo
Americannoun
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a village in central Belgium, south of Brussels: Napoleon decisively defeated here on June 18, 1815.
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a decisive or crushing defeat.
The candidate met her Waterloo in the national elections.
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a city in E Iowa.
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a city in SE Ontario, in S Canada.
noun
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a small town in central Belgium, in Walloon Brabant province south of Brussels: battle (1815) fought nearby in which British and Prussian forces under the Duke of Wellington and Blücher routed the French under Napoleon. Pop: 29 003 (2004 est)
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a total or crushing defeat (esp in meet one's Waterloo )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After the chaos Russia sustained in the 1990s, Mr. Putin, having brought stability, expected to be heralded by the West the way Alexander I was after Waterloo.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026
Dr Douglas Stenton, from the University of Waterloo who has excavated the remains of the sailors, said the circumstances they faced were dismal.
From BBC • May 26, 2026
Protesters are due to gather at Parliament Square on Saturday, while the separate pro-Palestine Nakba Day march begins at Waterloo Place.
From BBC • May 15, 2026
The major motorways that strike west from the capital bypass the county entirely; the trains from London Waterloo to the local station at Dorchester take a leisurely three hours.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026
Between Waterloo and Embankment the trains go under the Thames.
From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
