another nail in the coffin

another nail in the coffin

Another negative event or action that contributes to one's downfall or to something's failure. Aw man, our rival's new product just came out to rave reviews. There's another nail in the coffin. If my parents find out that I failed my exam, it will be another nail in the coffin, and they may never let me go out again!
See also: another, coffin, nail
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

another nail in the coffin

COMMON If an event is another nail in the coffin of something or someone, it is the latest in a series of events which are seriously harming that thing or person. The vote is another nail in the coffin of the one-party system which the country has now largely rejected. The President took the blame for the crisis and it became another nail in the coffin of his leadership. Note: If you say that an event is the last nail or the final nail in the coffin of something or someone, you mean that it finally destroys something or causes someone to fail. A rent increase could be the final nail in the coffin for a small business like this. The marriage was already in trouble and his affair proved to be the last nail in the coffin.
See also: another, coffin, nail
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
See also:
  • another nail in (one's) coffin
  • coffin
  • a nail in somebody's/something's coffin
  • replace
  • be replaced by (someone or something)
  • be replaced with (someone or something)
  • disappear without (a) trace
  • trace
  • vanish without (a) trace
  • leave to chance
References in periodicals archive
Greg WELSH club rugby is dying on its feet and now the powers that be want to put another nail in the coffin. First we have under-20s parachuted in and thus the clubs lose players.
Word on the web; Anger at regions' plan to replace Premiership clubs with regional A sides in British and Irish Cup
Nails in coffin of industrial heritage READING in the Birmingham Mail (February 4) about yet another nail in the coffin of the area's industrial heritage enraged me to write in.
Nails in coffin of industrial [...]
I urge everyone not to use these self-service tills and keep all the cashiers in work, every time somebody uses one of these tills it is another nail in the coffin for the job of someone's dad, mum, sister, brother, daughter or son.
Avoid self-service; You Say Email:letters@liverpoolecho.co.uk
If the licence was to be granted it would be the equal of another nail in the coffin for what is left of the retail trade on High Street."
Traders and police object to booze bid
MICHAEL McGlinchey last night claimed he told Archie Gemmill he'd got his tactics wrong BEFORE yesterday's defeat to Nigeria hammered another nail in the coffin of their World Cup dream.
McGlinchey hits out at bad Gemm plan
The trouble is that many of the viewers of Mr Winston's new series will not know this,and therefore I am concerned that this series, although interesting and well presented, will be yet another nail in the coffin of the truth about our origins as humans.
Television: HAVE YOUR SAY..
Jaskot has nonetheless put another nail in the coffin of Leon Krier's extraordinary attempt to exonerate the Nazi monuments by removing them from their political context.
THE ARCHITECTURE OF OPPRESSION: THE SS, FORCED LABOUR AND THE NAZI MONUMENTAL BUILDING ECONOMY
I think the global credential could be another nail in the coffin of our rightfully proud profession.
SPECIAL LETTERS SECTION SPEAK OUT!
Barry Faulkner, secretary of the Betting Office Licensees' Association, which includes the Big Three - Ladbroke, Hill and Coral - said the ruling was "simply another nail in the coffin."
THE bookies want a cut in betting duty
The figures are "another nail in the coffin" for those who argue against global warming, according to Professor Phil Jones at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit.
Global warming blamed as 1998 heads for heat record
Called "another nail in the coffin of financial privacy" by Financial Privacy Report Publisher Mike Ketcher, the new rules would force anyone sending more than $750 abroad to provide identification to the financial institution wiring the money and have the transaction reported to the Treasury Department.
Don't leave home
The water increase, Strasburg said, "is another nail in the coffin that is hurting not-for-profits the most."
Cost increases low, RGB says
"Prince Philip has been like this since he was a child, but this is another nail in the coffin of the monarchy."
Another nail in coffin of royalty
Whitfield's book indicates that, in killing Till, two white southerners only put another nail in the coffin of the very thing they were trying to keep alive.
A Death in the Delta: The Story of Emmett Till
"I see this win as driving another nail in the coffin of the BNP in this borough.
Win 'drives nail into BNP coffin'