How to Use X factor in a Sentence

X factor

noun
  • Still, the X factor on this week’s chart was clearly the sales.
    Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 23 Aug. 2023
  • Who or what will be the X factor for Golden State in this match-up?
    Sporting Green Staff, San Francisco Chronicle, 1 May 2023
  • Whether Trump appears at the debate may be the X factor.
    Time, 17 Aug. 2023
  • Expect the ground game to be featured (heavily) in this one, but success in the air will be the X factor.
    Alexis Cubit, The Courier-Journal, 1 Sep. 2022
  • And those aren’t the only X factors scientists have to contend with.
    WIRED, 29 June 2023
  • For many in human resources, AI remains a big X factor.
    Graham Glass, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
  • Some ineffable X factor that transcends all of the above?
    Jp Brammer, Los Angeles Times, 7 Feb. 2024
  • The X factor for the 49ers is versatile wide receiver Deebo Samuel.
    Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2022
  • That makes data the X factor for every competitor trying to go faster and shatter records.
    Joel Shapiro, Forbes, 26 Jan. 2023
  • But what’s the X factor that separates a champion from a mere player with talent?
    Corey Seymour, Vogue, 21 July 2023
  • As always, the coronavirus remains the biggest X factor.
    NBC News, 9 Aug. 2021
  • We're meant to understand her unprocessed grief as the X factor in the showdown between Wakanda and Namor's ancient watery tuf, Talokan.
    A.a. Dowd, Chron, 8 Nov. 2022
  • No telling what that means for Monday afternoon, in part because outdoor games come with an X factor — a sheet of ice, even when at its best, that just isn’t up to the standards of smooth, groomed, and cured indoor ice.
    Kevin Paul Dupont, BostonGlobe.com, 31 Dec. 2022
  • The only X factor reflected on the pages is that the company’s official corporate name is now X Corp.
    Todd Spangler, Variety, 24 July 2023
  • Trump's mounting legal issues have become something of an X factor in the primary race.
    Aaron Navarro, CBS News, 7 Sep. 2023
  • But a few other X factors may be behind her decision to stay in the race, like the possibility that Trump is barred from the ballot in states beyond Colorado and Maine.
    Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 25 Jan. 2024
  • But there’s an additional X factor that is blowing up the rules of innovation.
    Joe McKendrick, Forbes, 17 Feb. 2024
  • The other ever-present X factor in holiday travel is there are thousands of folks catching flights who do not travel often.
    Scott McMurren, Anchorage Daily News, 24 Dec. 2022
  • But the potential for major sports to migrate from the bundle to streaming is not the only X factor that could hasten corporate strategizing.
    Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 May 2023
  • No one can play this game alone, and your role in accelerating a startup and its products to market may be the X factor that results in exceptional returns.
    Nicolas Sauvage, Forbes, 27 Jan. 2022
  • The two themes that emerged from the discussion were the necessity for films to have an X factor that can be marketed and, second, that restored classics are finding new audiences.
    Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 10 Oct. 2023
  • Another X factor for 2023: the effect of Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing.
    Jennifer Maas, Variety, 17 May 2023
  • The X factor is John Wood, a Republican running as an independent.
    Jim Salter, ajc, 3 Aug. 2022
  • Of all the components in the team’s late-season pitching plans, however, few are bigger than Bobby Miller — the 24-year-old phenom who could emerge as an X factor down the stretch or fade down the pecking order if rookie struggles mount.
    Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 10 Aug. 2023
  • People from these areas have a certain little something in common, an X factor that’s hard to define, but is recognizable in specific facets of their culture.
    Jp Brammer, Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 2024
  • Another X factor is that there’s more archery information available.
    Alex Robinson, Outdoor Life, 21 June 2023
  • Energy is the X factor for creating sustainable high performance.
    Andrew Deutscher, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2024
  • Some X factor? All that being said, actually beating Trump remains improbable.
    David Lauter, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'X factor.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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