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Failure - Experiencing Failure

Explore English idioms that regard experiencing failure with examples like "go up in flames" and "fall flat".

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English idioms related to Failure
to hang on by one's fingernails

to barely manage to survive or succeed

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Definition & Meaning of \"to [hang] on by {one's} fingernails\"
on one's knees

in a difficult, desperate, or vulnerable situation where help or intervention may be needed

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Definition & Meaning of \"on {one's} knees\"
to go pear-shaped

to proceed in a way that causes a bad outcome

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Definition & Meaning of \"to [go] pear-shaped\"
to fall at the first hurdle

to fail or encounter difficulties at the beginning of a task or process, before any significant progress has been made

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Definition & Meaning of \"to [fall] at the first (hurdle|fence)\"
to fall at the final hurdle

to encounter failure or difficulties just before reaching the end or achieving a goal

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Definition & Meaning of \"to [fall] at the (final|last) (hurdle|fence)\"
the wheels fall off

used to refer to something that was working or progressing well but suddenly stopped functioning or fell apart

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Definition & Meaning of \"the wheels [fall off|come off]\"
to fall flat

(of a joke, remark, event, etc.) to be completely unsuccessful in amusing people or having the desired effect

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Definition & Meaning of \"to [fall] flat\"
to go up in flames

to experience a complete failure or defeat, often accompanied by dramatic or disastrous consequences

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Definition & Meaning of \"to [go] (up|down) in flames\"
to fall flat on one's face

to experience an embarrassing failure in an attempt to do something

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Definition & Meaning of \"to [fall] flat on {one's} face\"
to go ass over tit

to suddenly fall down because of losing one's balance

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Definition & Meaning of \"to [go] ass over (tit|tip)\"
to go south

to experience a sudden and significant decline, deterioration, or devaluation, often unexpectedly or rapidly

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Definition & Meaning of \"to [go] south\"
to go haywire

to malfunction or stop functioning properly

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Definition & Meaning of \"to [go] haywire\"
to beat one's head against a (brick) wall

to repeatedly try to do or achieve something without success

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Definition & Meaning of \"to [beat|bang|hit] {one's} head against (a|the) (brick|) wall\"
somebody can't hack it

used to convey that one is unable to cope with or handle a particular situation, task, or challenge

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Definition & Meaning of \"{sb} [can't|couldn't] hack it\"
to go belly up

(of a company, organization, plan, etc.) to experience a complete failure

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Definition & Meaning of \"to [go] belly up\"
black eye

an issue causing progress to slow down or stop entirely

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Definition & Meaning of \"black eye\"
to fall to pieces

to completely fail to be effective

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Definition & Meaning of \"to [fall] to pieces\"
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