Word.ws English Dictionary

going down in flames

going down in flames is the present participle and gerund of go down in flames.

Meaning of go down in flames

Verb

go down in flames (third-person singular simple present goes down in flames, present participle going down in flames, simple past went down in flames, past participle gone down in flames)

  1. (idiomatic) To fail miserably and with long-term consequences.
    Synonyms:
    crash and burn
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see go, down, in, flames: descend while aflame, crash and burn, etc.
    • Near-synonym: crash and burn
    Synonyms:
    crash and burn

Questions about going down in flames

What is going down in flames the present participle and gerund of?
Going down in flames is the present participle and gerund of go down in flames.

Words near going down in flames in the dictionary

  1. going cunch
  2. going dark
  3. going deep
  4. going down
  5. going down fighting
  6. going down in flames
  7. going down in history
  8. going down like a cup of cold sick
  9. going down like a cup of sick
  10. going down like a lead balloon
  11. going down like a lead zeppelin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: going down in flames (page history and authors); go down in flames (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “going down in flames.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/going_down_in_flames. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.