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• Achilles heel
  Achilles heel

  noun

  a portion, spot, area, or the like, that is especially or solely vulnerable.
• Achilles' heel
  Achilles' heel

  A point of vulnerability. (See Achilles.)

Achilles heel

American  

Or Achilles' heel

noun

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

   His Achilles heel is his quick temper.

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Achilles heel British  

noun

1. a small but fatal weakness

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Achilles' heel Cultural  

1. A point of vulnerability. (See Achilles.)

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Achilles' heel Idioms  

1. A fatal weakness, a vulnerable area, as in This division, which is rarely profitable, is the company's Achilles' heel. The term alludes to the Greek legend about the heroic warrior Achilles whose mother tried to make him immortal by holding the infant by his heel and dipping him into the River Styx. Eventually he was killed by an arrow shot into his undipped heel. [c. 1800]

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Etymology

Origin of Achilles heel

First recorded in 1800–10

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Achilles heel Achilles' heel

“His wealth is in one way his Achilles heel in the election,” Grose said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026

Even China’s imports of crude, previously an Achilles heel given its heavy dependence on energy to fuel its economy, dropped 8.8% as electric vehicles continue to dominate the market for autos domestically.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 14, 2026

A favourite with the bookies, the song's only Achilles heel is its similarity to last year's winner, Nemo.

From BBC ● May 9, 2025

A fungus devastating frogs and toads on nearly every continent may have an Achilles heel.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 3, 2024

“An Achilles heel is a weakness, and you’ve got one.”

From "The Million Dollar Shot" by Dan Gutman

Amid the new abundance of targets, the gasoline refineries remain Russia’s Achilles’ heel, economists say.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

"Banerjee's long electoral success rested on a delicate equilibrium between welfare and organisation. But the very organisation that sustained her for 15 years also became her Achilles' heel," says political scientist Bhanu Joshi.

From BBC ● May 4, 2026

President Donald Trump will want to avoid at all costs a prolonged surge in oil prices, which would become his political Achilles' heel.

From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026

Investors and policymakers should ask themselves whether the push into the retail space may turn out to be private credit’s Achilles’ heel.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 26, 2026

Armed with 2,400 years' worth of extra mathematics, it is not hard for us to go back and find Zeno’s Achilles’ heel.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife