go bad

Idioms  

1. Spoil, decay; also, turn to crime. For example, You can tell from the smell that this milk has gone bad, or If he keeps running around with that street gang, he's sure to go bad. [Late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

“Whatever asset you’re looking at people are on a knife’s edge regarding leverage and that doesn’t have to go bad; that can go very very well before it goes very, very bad,” he said.

From MarketWatch

Across rebel-held cities and towns, supermarket shelves sit empty while crops wither in inaccessible fields and go bad at rebel checkpoints.

From The Wall Street Journal

Pacific Valley’s profits had dropped double-digits after costs jumped and a business loan went bad.

From The Wall Street Journal

Even with all this, the Rams were driving in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead or at least make a dent in a four-point deficit when another decision went bad.

From Los Angeles Times

“We’re not opening our freezer up until the last minute. If we open it up now, the food will go bad that much faster. Probably going to lose all of it anyway.”

From Literature

Related Words

• atrophy
• corrode
• decompose
• degenerate
• discolor
• disintegrate
• dissolve
• dwindle
• fade
• get worse
• lessen
• mortify
• pollute
• rot
• shrivel
• wane
• wither