beginning of the end, the

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”).

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.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

I should've realized then that this was the beginning of the end, the now-evident shift Gail and Tom as the face of the show . . . not Padma.

Read more on Salon

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.

Read more on Salon

“Historic … the beginning of the end. The glass ceiling has been broken,” one resident, Shewit Wudassie, wrote on Facebook.

Read more on Seattle Times

“I spent my rent on a pair of Calvin Klein shoes, and that was the beginning of the end,” the 41-year-old designer said on the phone from her Ventura studio.

Read more on Los Angeles Times