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Synonyms

go south

Idioms  

  1. Deteriorate or decline, as in The stock market is headed south again. This expression is generally thought to allude to compasses and two-dimensional maps where north is up and south is down. However, among some Native Americans, the term was a euphemism for dying, and possibly this sense led to the present usage. [Slang; first half of 1900s] Also see go west.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“If negotiations look more likely, the market’s going to go south, if it makes it look like it’s going to drag on for much longer, then the market goes higher.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

Paramount also offers to pay Warner $5 billion should the deal go south.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 23, 2025

So how many of these borderline investments would have to go south before the fund’s net asset value gets whacked?

From MarketWatch • Nov. 7, 2025

The final-round trip west has seen English touring hopes go south before.

From BBC • Mar. 14, 2025

He wants to go south, to Marseille, where Monticelli, the painter he admires so, had lived.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.