Idioms

go bad

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go bad

1. To spoil, as of food or drink. Based on the awful smell, I'm pretty sure that meat has gone bad. If the milk's chunky, then it's definitely gone bad, bro. I'd eat that chicken today, before it goes bad.
2. To become unpleasant or unfavorable. They always seem so annoyed with each other anymore—I bet their relationship has gone bad. The weather was beautiful when we first got to the island, but now it's really gone bad—rain all day every day! My relationship with my boss has really gone bad. I don't think I can work here anymore.
3. To begin to engage in lawlessness. I'm really worried that my son will go bad if he keeps hanging out with that group of troublemakers. Has everyone in that part of the city gone bad? Drugs and gang violence have become so prevalent. There are rumors circulating that the mayor's gone bad and embezzling money from City Hall!
See also: bad, go
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

go bad

to become rotten, undesirable, evil, etc. I'm afraid that this milk has gone bad. Life used to be wonderful. Now it has gone bad.
See also: bad, go
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

go bad

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]
See also: bad, go
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive
When Good Drugs Go Bad reminds the reader that Canada is not just a sidekick.
For more information and to register for Lorman's "What to do When Construction Projects Go Bad in New Jersey" please call (866) 352-9539 or visit www.lorman.com.
That's because the long-necked glass bulbs in which the gas becomes magnetically aligned in a laser-based process can suddenly "go bad" and destroy the magnetic order for no apparent reason, says Saam.
West Group (Eagan, MN) and subsidiary Foundation Press have published When Elections Go Bad: The Law of Democracy and the 2000 Presidential Election, a softbound volume that is written to present a legal perspective on the resolution of disputed elections.
HOLLYWOOD After years of criticizing Fox for its reliance on reality specials, NBC is close to a deal with producer Bruce Nash ("When Good Pets Go Bad") for 13 episodes of a Foxlike video reality series, sources said last week.
No matter that the elderly themselves would then have to bear the risk when their investments go bad. As Mother Jones recently pointed out, mutual funds stand to gain $60 billion a year even from modest versions of privatization.
The Why Let Good Times Go Bad? initiative seeks to make 18 to 24-year-olds evaluate their habits in a bid to change the acceptability of drunkenness.
"Some days when things go bad they go bad, and this was just one of those days," he said.
What happened for it to go bad, I loved you so much...
In Make 5 Wishes a demon grants teenager Hana a series of wishes that go bad. But Avril's character helps Hana find the courage to conquer her own personal demons.
Extra food: energy bars, nuts and raisins, anything that won't go bad sitting in your pack for weeks at a time.
When supply hoses rupture or valves inside the machine go bad, water flows freely until someone shuts it off.
The relative rights of lending institutions, sureties, owners/developers and lien law trust fund beneficiaries (subcontractors and suppliers) is of critical importance when jobs go bad.
The story is complex, both in the criminal investigation and the investigation of what makes a man go bad. Charles has a huge range of voices, although Kincade's voice sounds as if it had been run over by a truck and barely resuscitated and is a little too different from everyone else's voice to be comfortable to the listener's ear.
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