go downhill
Slide toward failure
To go downhill is to decline or deteriorate.
The literal sense—descending a slope—extends to situations, health, relationships, or quality that worsen over time: Things went downhill after she left, His health started going downhill in his sixties.
The phrase implies a trajectory that's hard to reverse, like momentum carrying something down a slope.
- deteriorateGrow worse over time
- take a turn for the worseSuddenly decline in condition
- worsenBecome more severe
- degenerateDecline morally or physically
- declineDecrease or refuse
on the decline · fail · weaken · go to pot · go to the dogs · regress · go off the rails · atrophy · hit the skids · languish · lose steam · slump · wane · fizzle · go to seed · past its prime · crumble · decay
- deterioratedecay, rot, deteriorate, decompose, corrode