to hell in a handbasket
to hell in a handbasket prepositional phrase: to go to a bad state of affairs quickly.
Prepositional phrase
- To go to a bad state of affairs quickly.
- I watched as the guy in charge did nothing and the whole place went to hell in a handbasket.
- Ralph's close vision had deteriorated quite a bit since Carolyn’s death—gone to hell in a handbasket might actually have been a more accurate way of putting it—and he had to lean forward until his brow was pressed against the dirty show window of Secondhand Rose, Secondhand Clothes before he could...1994, Stephen King, Insomnia
Forms of to hell in a handbasket
| alternative form | to hell in a handcart |
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Origin of to hell in a handbasket
Images in church iconography suggest similar phrases may date back to 1515. The first attestation is from 1682, the variation to hell in a handcart is attested since 1841, and a phrase similar to to heaven in a wheelbarrow is first attested in 1618. The popularity of the variation "to hell in a handbasket" may be connected to its alliteration.
Questions about to hell in a handbasket
- What does to hell in a handbasket mean?
- To hell in a handbasket means to go to a bad state of affairs quickly.
- What part of speech is to hell in a handbasket?
- To hell in a handbasket is a prepositional phrase.
Words near to hell in a handbasket in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: to hell in a handbasket (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-to hell in a handbasket.ogg.
Cite this entry: “to hell in a handbasket.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/to_hell_in_a_handbasket. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.