Definition
An unknown or hard-to-define influence; a factor with unknown or unforeseeable consequences.
A special talent, ability or quality or its indefinable cause.
In Context
- "We slid into our office, past two women discussing the "X factor," an apparently undefined quality their firm felt they lacked."
- "The map can be misleading. It can appear to contain all the relevant information, but in real life, there is always an X factor."
- "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."
- "Whether it's trade, global warming, Darfur or North Korea, China has become the new x''' factor, without which no durable solution is possible."