bad trip

noun

Slang.

1. a mentally or physically horrifying drug-taking experience, as one accompanied by nightmarish hallucinations or by physical pain.

2. a dismayingly unpleasant experience.

   He was so ill-prepared that college was a bad trip for him.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bad trip¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Idioms and Phrases

A frightening or otherwise very unpleasant experience, as in Given the poor turnout, her book tour was a bad trip. The term comes from drug slang of the mid-1900s, where it meant experiencing hallucinations, pain, or other terrible effects from taking a drug, especially LSD. It was then extended to any extremely unpleasant experience.