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n. Slang Something that presents a particular threat to one that is otherwise powerful: Immigration reform turned out to be the senator's kryptonite. [After Kryptonite, a fictional radioactive mineral (the presence of which weakens the superhero Superman) appearing in Superman comics from 1949 onwards : Krypton, the home planet of Superman where Kryptonite was once found before being scattered in the universe by the planet's destruction (named by American comics writer Jerry Siegel (1914-1996), perhaps after the element KRYPTON) + -ITE1.] |
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