crash and burn
Idioms-
Fail utterly, as in Dale crashed and burned three times before passing the bar exam . This idiom alludes to a car or airplane that has crashed and caught fire. [ Slang ; 1970s]
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In skateboarding and other sports, be taken out of competition by a collision, accident, or fall, as in Although she was favored to win the downhill race, she crashed and burned on her first run . [ Slang ; 1980s]
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.
A tour of Australia gives a group of England players the opportunity to achieve cricketing immortality, or crash and burn.
From BBC
It was like watching a teenager talk about their first love: sweet, but with the melancholic knowledge that it will almost certainly crash and burn.
From Salon
“I really had a big crash and burn,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times
None of this felt like persuasive evidence for why they wouldn’t crash and burn in the postseason as they have in each of the previous three years.
From Los Angeles Times
Before, of course, the inevitable crash and burn when the law finally catches up to them.
From Salon
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.
