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 new study has found a way to avoid what has proven to be the Achilles’ heel of momentum strategies — their tendency to occasionally crash and burn.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
A tour of Australia gives a group of England players the opportunity to achieve cricketing immortality, or crash and burn.
From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2025
This year’s report by Dias and Salamat is the second significant claim of superconductivity to crash and burn in 2023.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 8, 2023
Or the year you resolved to spend less money only to crash and burn by maxing out your credit cards on get-out-of-debt self-help books.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2022
Or how hard it was to want to be the hero, even when you wanted nothing more than to crash and burn and break free.
From "Time Bomb" by Joelle Charbonneau
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
