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.

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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 )

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Waterloo Idioms  

1. see meet one's waterloo.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Waterloo

The monument, showing the Duke on his faithful horse Copenhagen, was designed by the Italian artist Carlo Marochetti and erected in 1844 to commemorate his victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

Organisers in Belgium said they had cancelled this weekend's reenactment of Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo because of the heatwave.

From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 2026

Grabbing the mic, he launches into a squeaky falsetto version of Abba's Waterloo, followed by Tommy Cash's 2025 entry Espresso Macchiato, complete with its loose-limbed choreography.

From BBC ● May 14, 2026

“English Liberator” reads like a period war novel, an enjoyable ride for the history buff looking for unheralded adventure stories bridging the gap between Waterloo and Fort Sumter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 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