go downhill
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to deteriorate or decline in quality or condition
Literally: move downward on a hill
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
So, basically, you're saying that there are these cuts and that's going to mean the quality of life in the homes is going to go downhill.
The day went downhill after that.
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. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “go downhill” mean?
to deteriorate or decline in quality or condition Literally: move downward on a hill
Is “go downhill” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.