beginning of the end, the

Idioms  

1. The start of a bad outcome (ruin, disaster, catastrophe, death), as in Joe's failing two of his courses was the beginning of the end; he dropped out soon afterward. This phrase, at first (16th century) used only to describe an approaching death, gained a new meaning after the French lost the battle of Leipzig in 1813 and Talleyrand said to Napoleon, “C'est le commencement de la fin” (“It's the beginning of the end”).

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Example Sentences

The third year of high school marks the beginning of the end, the countdown months — in less than two years, your child will be graduated and gone.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 13, 2023

Perhaps, rather than signaling the beginning of the end, the omicron variant might simply be the first of more mysterious mutant SARS-CoV-2 viruses to come.

From Salon • Jan. 3, 2022

Little did we know that was the beginning of the end, the smashed Escalade serving as a metaphor for Tiger’s personal life and career.

From Washington Times • Sep. 21, 2015

Part be-in, part paean to the beginning of the end, the Convergence drew followers to Mount Shasta in California, Central Park in New York, Ayers Rock in Australia and many other spots in August 1987.

From New York Times • Apr. 3, 2011

It is supposed that this accident was the beginning of the end, the commencement of his decline, that he never fully recovered from his injuries, which affected the hips and spinal cord.

From Memoir of John Howe Peyton in sketches by his contemporaries, together with some of his public and private letters, etc., also a sketch of Ann M. Peyton by Various