go up in flames

Idioms

Also, go up in smoke. Be utterly destroyed, as in This project will go up in flames if the designer quits, or All our work is going up in smoke. This idiom transfers a fire to other kinds of destruction. [Early 1900s]

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.

Forecasts say millions of acres could go up in flames this season.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026

“How can a whole city just go up in flames in one night, and you lose everything that you struggled to hold on to?” said Martin, 64.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 29, 2025

Forest rangers are concerned about forests that haven’t burned in decades, which contain an abundance of downed wood waiting to go up in flames.

From Slate • Nov. 12, 2024

Copenhagen's Mayor Sophie Hæstorp Andersen told the BBC it was terrible to see 400 years of Danish history go up in flames.

From BBC • Apr. 21, 2024

But I didn’t mean for the whole world to go up in flames.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023