go up in flames

Idioms  

1. Also, go up in smoke. Be utterly destroyed, as in This project will go up in flames if the designer quits, or All our work is going up in smoke. This idiom transfers a fire to other kinds of destruction. [Early 1900s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

go up in flames

That owes largely to the difficulty of preserving and projecting it, as it has a tendency to deteriorate and/or go up in flames.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

But Blue Origin just saw its plans go up in flames during a ground test explosion of its flagship New Glenn rocket, which damaged their launch platform and heralded delays.

From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026

We should not allow the story and wonder of Tommy Hawkins to go up in flames without a proper recounting.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2025

Forest rangers are concerned about forests that haven’t burned in decades, which contain an abundance of downed wood waiting to go up in flames.

From Slate ● Nov. 12, 2024

And it was so big, Meggie felt sure everything around it would go up in flames: the grass, the deck chair, and Dustfinger himself.

From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke