X factor

See also: x factor, X-factor, and x-factor

English

Alternative forms

• x-factor
• x factor

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

X factor (plural X factors)

1. (idiomatic) An unknown or hard-to-define influence; a factor with unknown or unforeseeable consequences.
   • 1992, Lia Matera, Prior Convictions, page 121:

     We slid into our office, past two women discussing the "X factor," an apparently undefined quality their firm felt they lacked.

   • 1999, Joel R. DeLuca, Political Savvy: Systematic Approaches to Leadership Behind the Scenes, page 75:

     The map can be misleading. It can appear to contain all the relevant information, but in real life, there is always an X factor.

   • 2007, Tasmina Perry, Daddy's Girls, page 12:

     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.

   • 2007 December 31, Fareed Zakaria, “The Rise of a Fierce Fragile Superpower”, in Newsweek, page 38:

     Whether it's trade, global warming, Darfur or North Korea, China has become the new x factor, without which no durable solution is possible.

2. (idiomatic) A special talent, ability or quality or its indefinable cause.
3. Prothrombinase, also called factor X.
4. (astrophysics) The proportionality constant which converts CO emission line brightness to molecular hydrogen mass.

Translations

unknown influence

• Chinese:

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• Finnish: tuntematon tekijä
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special talent

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• Finnish: erityislahjakkuus
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prothrombinase

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• Finnish: hyytymistekijä X
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proportionality constant

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