go bad

Idioms and Phrases

Spoil, decay; also, turn to crime. For example, You can tell from the smell that this milk has gone bad , or If he keeps running around with that street gang, he's sure to go bad . [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

In American fiction, we tend to write about things that go bad.

From The Daily Beast

I guessed that it might have been a psychic marker of when everything began to go bad.

From The Daily Beast

Whoever is doing these things has to have enough money to pay up if the bets go bad.

From The Daily Beast

She was also worried that an entire pork shoulder she had just bought might go bad in her unpowered freezer.

From The Daily Beast

Now a lot of things that we anticipated could go bad didn't.

From The Daily Beast

Those qualities—good enough in times of war—go bad in times of peace.

From Project Gutenberg

Able to keep fresh under the mandibles of the Sphex-larvae, why did they promptly go bad under the mandibles of the Scolia-larvae?

From Project Gutenberg

I was surprised to find it kept good so long: it is seldom known to go bad.

From Project Gutenberg

The others, the real knackers, wait for the meat to go bad; they are informed by the strength of the effluvia.

From Project Gutenberg

"You'll never know how a real golfer feels when his shots go bad on him," was the consoling response.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• atrophy
• corrode
• decompose
• degenerate
• discolor
• disintegrate
• dissolve
• dwindle
• fade
• get worse
• lessen
• mortify
• pollute
• rot
• shrivel
• wane
• wither