Home UK English X factor

Meaning of X factor in English:

X factor

noun

  • 1A noteworthy special talent or quality.

    ‘there are plenty of luxury cars around, but the S-Type has that special X factor’
    • ‘Mark said: " They do have to have the X factor, which is really hard to define.’
    • ‘Hugh Grant lacks the X factor in a disappointing satire.’
    • ‘It's exactly the sort of situation where Madsen's energetic X factor might have provided a crucial boost.’
    • ‘The judges claimed he had the X factor.’
    • ‘Certain performers have the X factor on lockdown.’
    • ‘And there are no rules, or at least no accountable ones: you either have the X factor or you don't.’
    • ‘According to advertising sources, Wood has the industry's much sought after " X factor ".’
    • ‘His main problem is deciding whether individual paintings have that X factor that makes them work.’
    • ‘Gareth is immensely talented and has the X factor by the bucketful.’
    • ‘Charisma and the X factor is hard to find.’
    • ‘You can tell almost as soon as you go into the school whether it has the x factor or not!’
    • ‘They played hard, they made mistakes, but they were missing the X factor that makes championship teams.’
    • ‘There are plenty of luxury cars around today, but the S-Type has that special X factor.’
    • ‘"He's got the X factor, hasn't he?"’
    • ‘Sligo has got the X factor.’
    • ‘Has your bus driver got the X factor?’
    • ‘We can rule just about all of those out because, although they may be fine pictures, there is no X factor to make them special.’
    • ‘X-Men 2 is mad but madly enjoyable Hollywood blockbuster cinema with enough dark moments about destiny and natural order to give it the X factor.’
    • ‘But has the struggling PM got the political X factor?’
    • ‘As for Gillian Anderson, she has the X factor.’

  • 2A variable in a given situation that could have the most significant impact on the outcome.

    ‘the young vote may turn out to be the X factor’
    • ‘Weather has always been Mount Washington's X factor.’
    • ‘The public, however, is still the X factor.’
    • ‘The ' exposure ' combined with ' opportunities ' is what produces the X factor.’
    • ‘Carol Costello reports on the X factor in this year's presidential race.’
    • ‘He is the X factor, the spanner in the works to any carefully laid plan.’
    • ‘The X factor here is Brenden Morrow, a 20-goal scorer in his second season who figures to get at least 30 this season.’
    • ‘The X factor is the fans, says Andrew Coltart, a European Ryder Cup rookie two years ago.’
    • ‘What's more, none of that includes a new X factor: global warming.’
    • ‘They need some kind of invisible stitching, a dash of the X factor that brings an unyielding aura.’
    • ‘I honestly believe that impressive traps are the X factor in a take-no-prisoners most-muscular pose.’
    • ‘It could be the X factor in this year's presidential contest.’
    • ‘These are the "X factors" for the Super Bowl.’
    • ‘We look at the x factor making it tough to predict the race.’
    • ‘This "x factor" has to be overshadowed.’
    • ‘Smits is the team's biggest X factor.’
    • ‘The young vote may be the X factor.’
    • ‘The live variable was definitely the X factor.’
    • ‘The X factor is that the film delivers a story previously untold by A-list Hollywood.’
    • ‘Kerry's X factor was his military record.’
    • ‘"Call him the X factor, the third scorer or whatever," Kansas coach Roy Williams says.’