come a cropper
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He can claim, whether truthfully or not, that he had recommended clients to come in at exactly the right times.
And he admitted this wasn't the first time his feet had come a cropper.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “come a cropper” mean?
Fall heavily.
Is “come a cropper” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.