into the ground
19
7.3
- idiom
- Informal
:
hasta la extenuación
- Fidel has run the country into the ground, with equal opportunity poverty for most.
- run into the ground
- driven into the ground
- grind us into the ground
So a lot of people are letting life run them into the ground.
- So a lot of people are letting life run them into the ground.
- They use their face and mush you into the ground.
- And, you know, he could argue anybody, you know, into the ground because he had a mind sharp as a razor blade.
- And it's going down fast and he's crazy and he's running it into the ground.
- I will sue those lying Jezebels into the ground, the consecrated ground in which our brave soldiers now lie said.
Examples
-
My parents raised me to buy new and drive it into the ground for the best value.
Blog text (15) -
Barely pausing to eat or sleep he worked his cast and crew into the ground.
-
I drive myself into the ground, I burn out.
-
I run that thing into the ground.
-
Then, after they run the program into the ground, they have to find ways out of it.
Blog text (15) -
Regardless, the country will continue to run itself into the ground while the rest of the world watches.
Blog text (14) -
You've been running this hospital into the ground.
-
Do you really think Mr. Loewen has the intention of running me into the ground?
-
I've been calling you, you don't call me back, so I got to come down here to see what's going on, and you're running my boys into the ground!
-
He worked tirelessly on the project, driving himself into the ground despite the warnings of his colleagues.
Synonyms
194
3.2
To make someone very tired
27
4.1
Slowly make a person or thing weaker by repeated pressure
19
6.5
To damage something by using it too much or managing it badly
19
2.7
To make a person very tired or a thing stop working by using it too much
15
4.1
To make someone work too much so they become very tired or ill
10
2.1
To make a person very tired by using up their energy
8
9.4
To make someone very tired
4
6.5
Make more effort than your body or mind can handle
3
6.8
To make someone very tired by doing too much
1
5.4
Make someone very tired by giving them too much to do
To make someone very tired so they cannot work or think well
To do very hard, long tasks until you are very tired
To make someone very busy and tired with too much work
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
into + the + ground
The literal components 'into' (indicating reaching a level) and 'ground' (earth/endpoint) provide a clear sense of movement to a final state, so a learner could infer a meaning of completeness. However, the extension to exhaustion, ruin, or thorough defeat is a metaphorical shift from the physical image (burying/bringing down to the ground) and is not fully predictable without exposure, so it is partially but not fully transparent.
Etymology
The phrase into the ground may come from the image of forcing something into the ground, pushing it down until it is crushed or buried. So when people say someone was driven into the ground, they mean 'to wear out' or 'to ruin' by working them or it too hard.