Meaning of to hell in a handbasket | Babel Free

Definitions

To go to a bad state of affairs quickly.

idiomatic, informal

Equivalents

Examples

“I watched as the guy in charge did nothing and the whole place went to hell in a handbasket.”

“Ralph's close vision had deteriorated quite a bit since Carolyn’s death—gone to hell in a handbasket might actually have been a more accurate way of putting it—and he had to lean forward until his brow was pressed against the dirty show window of Secondhand Rose, Secondhand Clothes before he could decipher it: […]”

“Gen Xers were said to be lazy—“slackers” in the parlance of the time—who didn’t exhibit the straightforward work ethic of their predecessors. […] Commentators wrung their hands about the slackers in our midst, further evidence that society was going to hell in a handbasket.”

CEFR level