mennä pieleen — meaning in English
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English meaning
- backfire verb Of an engine or gun, to ignite or explode unexpectedly in the wrong direction, often with a loud pop.
Senses
mennä pieleen is used for these senses in English:
- backfire (idiomatic, transitive) To fail in a manner that brings down further misfortune.
- break bad (colloquial, especially, Southern US, and, Midwest US, of a person) To go bad; to turn toward immorality or crime.
- break down (intransitive) To fail, especially socially or for political reasons.
- go pear-shaped (intransitive, especially, UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, idiomatic) To go awry; to go wrong. [from 1980s]
- go sour (figuratively) To become unpleasing, unpleasant, unsatisfying, unfulfilling to one's wishes.
- go wrong (intransitive, idiomatic) To worsen; to fail or go amiss; to have a bad outcome.
backfire — full definition
- verb Of an engine or gun, to ignite or explode unexpectedly in the wrong direction, often with a loud pop.
- verb To produce the opposite result to the one intended, making the situation worse.
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