beginning of the end, the

Idioms  

1. The start of a bad outcome (ruin, disaster, catastrophe, death), as in Joe's failing two of his courses was the beginning of the end; he dropped out soon afterward. This phrase, at first (16th century) used only to describe an approaching death, gained a new meaning after the French lost the battle of Leipzig in 1813 and Talleyrand said to Napoleon, “C'est le commencement de la fin” (“It's the beginning of the end”).

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Example Sentences

The third year of high school marks the beginning of the end, the countdown months — in less than two years, your child will be graduated and gone.

From Los Angeles Times

I should've realized then that this was the beginning of the end, the now-evident shift Gail and Tom as the face of the show . . . not Padma.

From Salon

Perhaps, rather than signaling the beginning of the end, the omicron variant might simply be the first of more mysterious mutant SARS-CoV-2 viruses to come.

From Salon

“Historic … the beginning of the end. The glass ceiling has been broken,” one resident, Shewit Wudassie, wrote on Facebook.

From Seattle Times

“I spent my rent on a pair of Calvin Klein shoes, and that was the beginning of the end,” the 41-year-old designer said on the phone from her Ventura studio.

From Los Angeles Times