down the pan

1 9.9

Completely ruined or wasted and no longer useful

idiom

: por el desagüe

She invested her savings in a project that ultimately went down the pan due to poor planning.
go down the pan

Examples

And I am sad to say, you know, she went down the pan.

The Other Man (2008)
After the financial crisis, many businesses went down the pan and had to close their doors.
If they don't change their strategy, their hopes of success will go down the pan.

Synonyms

to go up in smoke

vsdown the pan

Informal

18 5.5

Plans or hopes suddenly fail and disappear for good

shares failure meaning but not the sudden disappearance nuance

to turn to shit

vsdown the pan

Offensive

9 9.9

To go very badly and fail completely

conveys ruin too but without the coarse or vulgar tone

to turn to dust

vsdown the pan

7 6.6

To be completely ruined and lose all value

matches ruin but focuses more on loss than destruction process

to go in the toilet

vsdown the pan

Informal

1 7.9

To fail completely

is the same idea expressed with a different informal phrase

to crap up

vsdown the pan

Offensive

1 9.9

To ruin something by making a mistake or being careless

covers complete failure regardless of whether carelessness caused it

up the boohai

vsdown the pan

New Zealand

9.9

A plan or project that goes badly and fails completely

means the same failure but is more widely used outside that region

to the bow-wows

vsdown the pan

Archaic

9.9

To end in ruin or complete failure

is similar but more current and widely understood today

to pour down the drain

vsdown the pan

Informal

6.0

Lose money, time, or effort by wasting it so it cannot be used

focuses on failure overall rather than specifically on wasted resources

Antonyms

successful

∞ 1.6

You have achieved what you wanted

thriving

6 3.8

Growing and very successful, like a busy café or arts scene

How Ruined

destroyed

2.8

down the pan

1 9.9

ruined

1 3.1

Surface Forms

down the pan positive

Morphology

down + the + pan

The sense 'ruined/wasted' cannot be predicted from the literal meanings of 'down' (lower/moving to a lower place) + 'pan' (a cooking vessel); the phrase is a regionally idiomatic British expression ('go/come down the pan') and its metaphorical extension is not compositionally transparent. A B1 learner who knows the constituents but has not seen the expression would very likely not infer the idiomatic meaning, so it is best treated as opaque.

Etymology

The idiom down the pan may come from old kitchens where people threw bad food or dirty water into a metal pan, and when things went down the pan they were thrown away and lost. That's why it now means 'ruined' or 'wasted'.