English · Idiom Candidate

to hell in a handbasket

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

to be deteriorating or declining rapidly

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

tồi tệ hoặc suy giảm nhanh chóng

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: descending to hell in a small basket

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The economy is going to hell in a handbasket since the pandemic started

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.

Topics: Devils & ghosts

Common questions

What does “to hell in a handbasket” mean?

to be deteriorating or declining rapidly Literally: descending to hell in a small basket

Is “to hell in a handbasket” formal or informal?

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

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