silver bullet

noun

1. a quick solution to a difficult problem.

Word History and Origins

Origin of silver bullet¹

First recorded in 1930–35; from the belief that supernatural beings, as werewolves, can be killed with a silver bullet

Example Sentences

The move might be shocking, but experts also say that it’s a natural part of a process that isn’t as as smooth as finding a silver bullet in vaccine form.

From Popular-Science

It’s clear that there’s no silver bullet that will undo a decade’s worth of widening inequality.

From Eater

Instead, we keep looking for silver bullets through rewriting the legal codes that govern social media or the software code they use to run their networks.

From Time

So far, they haven’t been a silver bullet, and they’ve faced criticism over usability, privacy, and more.

From MIT Technology Review

There is no silver bullet for US department stores to immediately start thriving again, so the best many can do is simply try to adapt and survive.

From Vox

The truth is that intersex just might be the silver bullet in the culture wars about sex and gender.

From The Daily Beast

Weiner will pay out for focus groups and polls, trying to find the silver bullet that will put the past back in his pants.

From The Daily Beast

In his New York Times column Sunday, Ross Douthat calls this sort of thinking the “demographic excuse,” a silver-bullet “fantasy.”

From The Daily Beast

“There is no silver bullet when it comes to this issue,” Panetta told reporters on Monday.

From The Daily Beast

Again, when exploring this topic Pearlstein is frank in stating up front that there is no silver bullet solution here.

From The Daily Beast

But it wasn't a leg: it was a gun, loaded with a silver bullet that had been charged home with prayer.

From Project Gutenberg

One of the neighbors cut off the wolf's tail with a silver bullet, the appendage being for many years preserved by the Indians.

From Project Gutenberg

By shootin' with a silver bullet run outen a mould thet's done been rubbed with willow-sprigs.

From Project Gutenberg

Meanwhile, instead of replacing the silver bullet in his cartridge belt, the Lone Ranger put it in his pocket.

From Project Gutenberg

Often when sportsmen miss, they claim that their gun is bewitched, and avail themselves of the sure silver bullet.

From Project Gutenberg