recipe for disaster

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

A situation or combination of factors likely to lead to failure or catastrophe

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

tình huống hoặc sự kết hợp các yếu tố có thể dẫn đến thất bại hoặc thảm họa

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: a set of instructions for cooking
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The company's poor management and lack of funding are a recipe for disaster

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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “recipe for disaster” mean?

A situation or combination of factors likely to lead to failure or catastrophe Literally: a set of instructions for cooking

Is “recipe for disaster” formal or informal?

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