"X factor" meaning in English

See X factor in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-X factor.ogg [Australia] Forms: X factors [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} X factor (plural X factors)
  1. (idiomatic) An unknown or hard-to-define influence; a factor with unknown or unforeseeable consequences. Tags: idiomatic Translations (unknown influence): tuntematon tekijä (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-X_factor-en-noun-F1fO4ust Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 14 11 41 34 Disambiguation of 'unknown influence': 78 10 8 4
  2. (idiomatic) A special talent, ability or quality or its indefinable cause. Tags: idiomatic Translations (special talent): erityislahjakkuus (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-X_factor-en-noun-ZSv6KPhX Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 14 11 41 34 Disambiguation of 'special talent': 1 95 1 2
  3. Prothrombinase, also called factor X. Synonyms: x-factor, x factor Translations (prothrombinase): hyytymistekijä X (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-X_factor-en-noun-uajToKZG Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 14 11 41 34 Disambiguation of 'prothrombinase': 6 8 74 12
  4. (astrophysics) The proportionality constant which converts CO emission line brightness to molecular hydrogen mass. Categories (topical): Astrophysics
    Sense id: en-X_factor-en-noun-wOJPq7kT Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 14 11 41 34 Topics: astrophysics

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for X factor meaning in English (4.2kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "X factors",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "X factor (plural X factors)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "14 11 41 34",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1992, Lia Matera, Prior Convictions, page 121",
          "text": "We slid into our office, past two women discussing the \"X factor,\" an apparently undefined quality their firm felt they lacked.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Joel R. DeLuca, Political Savvy: Systematic Approaches to Leadership Behind the Scenes, page 75",
          "text": "The map can be misleading. It can appear to contain all the relevant information, but in real life, there is always an X factor.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Tasmina Perry, Daddy's Girls, page 12",
          "text": "And put him on an LA film set and he glowed with that indefinable X-factor that agents the world over wished they could bottle.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 December 31, Fareed Zakaria, “The Rise of a Fierce Fragile Superpower”, in Newsweek, page 38",
          "text": "Whether it's trade, global warming, Darfur or North Korea, China has become the new x factor, without which no durable solution is possible.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unknown or hard-to-define influence; a factor with unknown or unforeseeable consequences."
      ],
      "id": "en-X_factor-en-noun-F1fO4ust",
      "links": [
        [
          "factor",
          "factor"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An unknown or hard-to-define influence; a factor with unknown or unforeseeable consequences."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "78 10 8 4",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "unknown influence",
          "word": "tuntematon tekijä"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "14 11 41 34",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A special talent, ability or quality or its indefinable cause."
      ],
      "id": "en-X_factor-en-noun-ZSv6KPhX",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A special talent, ability or quality or its indefinable cause."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "1 95 1 2",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "special talent",
          "word": "erityislahjakkuus"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "14 11 41 34",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Prothrombinase, also called factor X."
      ],
      "id": "en-X_factor-en-noun-uajToKZG",
      "links": [
        [
          "Prothrombinase",
          "prothrombinase"
        ],
        [
          "factor X",
          "factor X"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "13 4 57 26",
          "word": "x-factor"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "13 4 57 26",
          "word": "x factor"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "6 8 74 12",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "prothrombinase",
          "word": "hyytymistekijä X"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Astrophysics",
          "orig": "en:Astrophysics",
          "parents": [
            "Astronomy",
            "Physics",
            "Sciences",
            "Space",
            "All topics",
            "Nature",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 11 41 34",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The proportionality constant which converts CO emission line brightness to molecular hydrogen mass."
      ],
      "id": "en-X_factor-en-noun-wOJPq7kT",
      "links": [
        [
          "astrophysics",
          "astrophysics"
        ],
        [
          "proportionality",
          "proportionality"
        ],
        [
          "constant",
          "constant"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(astrophysics) The proportionality constant which converts CO emission line brightness to molecular hydrogen mass."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "astrophysics"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-X factor.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/51/En-au-X_factor.ogg/En-au-X_factor.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/En-au-X_factor.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "X Factor (disambiguation)"
  ],
  "word": "X factor"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "X factors",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "X factor (plural X factors)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1992, Lia Matera, Prior Convictions, page 121",
          "text": "We slid into our office, past two women discussing the \"X factor,\" an apparently undefined quality their firm felt they lacked.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Joel R. DeLuca, Political Savvy: Systematic Approaches to Leadership Behind the Scenes, page 75",
          "text": "The map can be misleading. It can appear to contain all the relevant information, but in real life, there is always an X factor.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Tasmina Perry, Daddy's Girls, page 12",
          "text": "And put him on an LA film set and he glowed with that indefinable X-factor that agents the world over wished they could bottle.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 December 31, Fareed Zakaria, “The Rise of a Fierce Fragile Superpower”, in Newsweek, page 38",
          "text": "Whether it's trade, global warming, Darfur or North Korea, China has become the new x factor, without which no durable solution is possible.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unknown or hard-to-define influence; a factor with unknown or unforeseeable consequences."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "factor",
          "factor"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An unknown or hard-to-define influence; a factor with unknown or unforeseeable consequences."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A special talent, ability or quality or its indefinable cause."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A special talent, ability or quality or its indefinable cause."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Prothrombinase, also called factor X."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Prothrombinase",
          "prothrombinase"
        ],
        [
          "factor X",
          "factor X"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Astrophysics"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The proportionality constant which converts CO emission line brightness to molecular hydrogen mass."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "astrophysics",
          "astrophysics"
        ],
        [
          "proportionality",
          "proportionality"
        ],
        [
          "constant",
          "constant"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(astrophysics) The proportionality constant which converts CO emission line brightness to molecular hydrogen mass."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "astrophysics"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-X factor.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/51/En-au-X_factor.ogg/En-au-X_factor.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/En-au-X_factor.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "x-factor"
    },
    {
      "word": "x factor"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "unknown influence",
      "word": "tuntematon tekijä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "special talent",
      "word": "erityislahjakkuus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "prothrombinase",
      "word": "hyytymistekijä X"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "X Factor (disambiguation)"
  ],
  "word": "X factor"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.