Waterloo

American  

[waw-ter-loo, wot-er-, waw-ter-loo, wot-er-, vah-tuhr-loh] / ˈwɔ tərˌlu, ˈwɒt ər-, ˌwɔ tərˈlu, ˌwɒt ər-, ˈvɑ tərˌloʊ /

noun

1. a village in central Belgium, south of Brussels: Napoleon decisively defeated here on June 18, 1815.

2. a decisive or crushing defeat.

   The candidate met her Waterloo in the national elections.

3. a city in E Iowa.

4. a city in SE Ontario, in S Canada.

---

Waterloo British  

/ ˌwɔːtəˈluː /

noun

1. 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)

2. a total or crushing defeat (esp in meet one's Waterloo )

---

Waterloo Idioms  

1. see meet one's waterloo.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Waterloo

Fans of the Kansas Jayhawks and Arizona State Sun Devils gathered at a pre-game party in Waterloo on Friday.

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

There are 65 Canadian colleges listed, he says, including McGill University, the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo and the University of British Columbia.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026

Researchers from Kyushu University, the University of Waterloo, and Stockholm University may now have part of the answer.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026

Praising a group of trainees on X, he wrote: “These Waterloo interns at baseten are hill climbing machines.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

They had to answer one more question: What is the origin of the phrase, "to meet one's Waterloo" and what does it mean?

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---