Word.ws English Dictionary

went down in flames

went down in flames is the simple past 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 went down in flames

What is went down in flames the simple past of?
Went down in flames is the simple past of go down in flames.

Words near went down in flames in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: went 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: “went down in flames.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/went_down_in_flames. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.