English · Idiom Candidate

come apart at the seams

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

To fall into a state of chaos or disorder

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

rơi vào tình trạng hỗn loạn hoặc vô trật tự

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: to separate or break apart like seams

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The company came apart at the seams after the scandal

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “come apart at the seams” mean?

To fall into a state of chaos or disorder Literally: to separate or break apart like seams

Is “come apart at the seams” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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