tragic flaw

Definitions

A personality trait or other characteristic of a real or fictional individual which is immoral, destructive, or otherwise faulty and which leads to the ruin or profound suffering of that individual.

Examples

“When a heroine's tragic flaw takes the form⟳ of uncontrollable love⟳ for an outlaw, the paths of momentary glory can lead⟳ but to defeat⟳.”

“If the jury, who begin⟳ their final deliberations tomorrow, find⟳ the black All-American hero guilty of murdering his white wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, they will have⟳ concluded that he succumbed to the oldest tragic flaw in the book, the green-eyed monster of jealousy.”

“The control-freak instinct runs too deep. . . . This runs the risk⟳ of becoming a tragic flaw.”

CEFR level