Meaning Of Idiom ‘Go Bad’
1. Of a food or beverage, to spoil or decay so that it is no longer fresh enough to eat or drink.
2. Of a situation, circumstance, or plan to become negative, unfortunate, upsetting, stressful, unpleasant, etc.; when something does not go as one hoped.
3. Of a person, to turn to crime; to begin to engage in illegal or immoral activities.
To go bad, in regards to food, is a synonym for ‘go off,’ used in Britain. However, ‘to go off’ has several other meanings not shared by the phrase ‘go bad.’
Sentence Examples
“Yuck! This milk has gone bad.”
“Can you smell this milk and see if it’s gone bad?”
“I need to use this chicken before it goes bad so we’re having chicken soup tonight.”
“The power went out for a week and all our food went bad.”
“Vick is running with a bad crowd. If he keeps it up, he’s bound to go bad.”
“Not all wizards are good. Some of them go bad. A few years ago there was a wizard who went as bad as you can go.” — Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
People get mugged coming home from work every day of the week. Sometimes…Sometimes things just go bad.” — Batman Begins (2005)
“Put the snipers in place. If things go bad, we take him out.” — The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
“Want some of this melon? It’s left over from breakfast. It’s just gonna go bad. It’s just gonna spoil.” — Captain Phillips (2013)
Origin
Used since the late 1800s.
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