Meaning of Avada Kedavra | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To use the Killing Curse from the Harry Potter series on (someone), causing immediate death.
   ambitransitive, humorous
2. To destroy (something).
   figuratively, humorous, transitive

Examples

“There isn’t much point in trying to attack this, the final installment in the epic saga of Harry Potter; everyone in the civilized world has already seen it, and all of the die-hard HP fans won’t accept even the slightest criticism of the movies, save for the degree to which they differ from the books. However, at the time of this writing, HP-fever has died down and I can now give this movie a fair examination, free from the scornful “avada kedavra-ing” of fanboys and fangirls.”

“If Harry Potter was a vicious hooligan, we’d quite happily accept Voldermort^([sic]) Avada-Kedavra-ing him.”

“If I was Harry Potter, I would have Avada Kedavraed your ass straight into hell.”

“There are challenges — like Ravenclaw egos, Voldemort’s avada kedavra-ing, the Malfoys’ bullying, the stress of exams and the frigidity of weather which can make lecture halls seem more like igloos — but these challenges become much more manageable when undertaken alongside others with whom one identifies and empathizes.”

““One day I walked into my classroom to find every single student snoring. The noise…I finally snapped. I waved my hand and turned them all into blue-footed bubis**.” / News traveled across campus quickly, eliciting an immediate response from both faculty and students. / “I love it!” said one professor who wished not to be named. “That’s thinking outside the box! Personally, I would have avada kedavra’d the whole lot of them. But I suppose it’s a start.””

“Voldemort remains a performer throughout the entire series, and his theatricality becomes his predictability (though he learns enough to Avada Kedavra Harry immediately in Deathly Hallows and go through the theatrics after the threat has been nullified).”

“Theme park lines occupy – or, really, are – a special place in hell, especially the ones in Central Florida, where standing under the Florida sun usually results in enough back sweat to fill a kiddie pool. One place, though, stops us from Avada Kedavra-ing ourselves – the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. With meticulous attention to detail and the Harry Potter canon, Universal engineers have created immersive waiting areas that are just as magically engaging as the ride itself.”

“He is standing again, pacing around the apartment lobby, scared, like some wizard is going to Avada Kedavra him into oblivion.”

“Have faith in yourself, Jane. You are more dangerous than you know. / I tried to believe that. Of course, it would have been easier to believe if not for the fact I had to turn into a deer to duck out of the way of Jones pulling out a wand then firing glowing balls of hellish fire at me. / “You are not going to Avada Kedavra me, Hermione!” I shouted. / Alex engaged Visigoth in battle and it was hard to tell who was winning, since the two thousand-year-old vampire moved faster than the eye could see.”

“Better be careful, witch, it sounds like he’s about to Avada Kedavra this relationship.”

“Hermione Granger just turned 36, in case your childhood hasn’t already been Avada Kedavra’d into oblivion.”

“Now, if you accidentally run terraform destroy against prod, and it also takes the data with it, you’ve done more than just flipped the boxes off. They’re gone, kaput, Avada Kedavra’d, so be careful. We have these tools to make our lives easier, but sometimes I wonder if we’re not also giving ourselves the capability for so much more accidental destruction.”

“Despite our being confined in a boring-ass town whose main attraction was the fucking hardware store because it had begun serving steak-and-cheese sandwiches, Chase had planned the perfect date, only for my mother to Avada Kedavra it.”

“‘[…] And it hit me. That poem just reached inside of me, tore my heart out, and Avada Kedavra’d it!’ It is a very emotional poem, to be sure.”

CEFR level