go for broke
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Risk everything in an all-out effort.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Not for the first time, she was going for broke; she tried to tell herself that nothing much bad could happen, at the worst she could be discovered and thrown out, but somehow the stakes seemed much higher.
A NEW management consultancy is going for broke.
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: Euphemism (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “go for broke” mean?
Risk everything in an all-out effort.
Is “go for broke” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.