A buzzkill is a person or event that ruins a fun moment. The concert gets cancelled, someone mentions an early start in the middle of a party: buzzkill. Being right doesn't help, since a useful reminder can still kill the mood. Informal; neutrally, something that spoiled the mood.
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be a buzzkill; a total buzzkill; hate to be a buzzkill, but …
- The announcement that the concert was cancelled was a total buzzkill.
- I hate to be a buzzkill, but the last train leaves in twenty minutes.
- A long argument about parking was a buzzkill after such a cheerful dinner.
What changed
First versionThe sudden power cut was such buzzkill during the party.
RevisionThe sudden power cut was such a buzzkill during the party.
Buzzkill can feel like a mood rather than a countable thing, so the article disappears: such buzzkill. But buzzkill is a countable noun, and after such it needs a: such a buzzkill. To soften bad news, people say I hate to be a buzzkill, but…
A wet blanket is someone who always spoils the fun: it's about character. A buzzkill can be a person or a one-off event. Boring just means dull, while a buzzkill means the fun was there and got broken.
Your turn
Complete the countable noun phrase: That gloomy announcement was ___ buzzkill.
Show the answer
a — Buzzkill starts with the consonant sound /b/, so a.
Describe an event that spoiled a happy moment. Use a buzzkill and show what the mood was like before it.
Finding out that the café was closed was a buzzkill after our excited walk across town.
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