go straight

Idioms  

1. Become a law-abiding person; abandon crime. For example, Once he got out on probation, he swore he would go straight. The use of straight in the sense of “honest” dates from the 1500s and probably alludes to the opposite of crooked, used in the sense of “dishonest” from the 13th century on.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

go straight

Some activists remain positive that more staffers at shelters will improve conditions, but others argue the money should go straight to the animals through food, enrichment and supplies instead of wages.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

The problem comes if you go straight from wearing a very structured shoe to wearing flip-flops a lot, she explains.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

Because they arrive fully trimmed, they can go straight into a low, slow smoke or a gentle braise, where the collagen breaks down into gelatin and the meat becomes tender enough to shred.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026

Taken together, the sculptures testify to the nearly impossible challenge of rendering beauty from stone, a lesson lost when the eyes go straight to David and hindsight bias prevails.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026

When I stepped off the school bus, I decided not to go straight home.

From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin