going bad
Starting to decay
Going bad describes the process of food spoiling or decaying: The milk is going bad—smell it.
Extended to people, it means becoming corrupt or morally compromised: a good cop going bad.
Of situations or plans, it means deteriorating: Things started going bad after the merger.
The phrase captures transition rather than a completed state.
Cease to be valid
turn · off · taint · ferment · contaminate · perishable · expiration · shelf-life
expire
Cease to be valid
sour · turn · off · taint · ferment · contaminate · perishable · expiration · shelf-life · refrigerate
rot
Organic breakdown process
- moldForm-giving container
- spoilDamage or overindulge
- decompositionBreakdown into simpler parts
putrefaction · rotten · festering · putrid · decompose · compost · fungus · necrosis · gangrene · biodegradation
- spoilagerotten, stale, moldy, decay, rot
- moral decaymoral decay, moral decline, moral collapse, moral bankruptcy, degeneration
- brokenbroken, busted, broken down, out of order, not working
- declinedecline, in decline, decrease, downswing, on the decline
going badkeeping fresh
preserving · keeping · ripening · holding up · lasting
going badreforming
Making institutional changes
redeeming oneself · turning over a new leaf · mending one's ways · improving · cleaning up one's act
going badholding up
Supporting or delaying
improving · getting fixed · getting better · coming together · turning around
bad, spoiled, rotting, decaying, spoiling, unsound, deteriorated, deteriorating, moldering