a one-way ticket

a one-way ticket to (something)

A specific, usually negative, result of an action, event, or situation. If he doesn't restructure his company soon, he's buying a one-way ticket to bankruptcy. Coming home after curfew will be a one-way ticket to being grounded. Why aren't you wearing the right uniform? You know that's a one-way ticket to detention, right?
See also: ticket, to
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

a one-way ticket

If you describe something as a one-way ticket to a particular situation or state, you mean that it is certain to lead to that situation or state. Having strong feelings for someone when those feelings aren't returned can be very painful. It represents a one-way ticket to unhappiness. The secretarial jobs she'd had since leaving college were a one-way ticket to nowhere, professionally speaking.
See also: ticket
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
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