to slide back down like snakes and ladders
- idiom
- Informal
:
retroceder como en el juego de la oca
- After months of hard work, the company slid back down like snakes and ladders when the market crashed.
Examples
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Just as they were gaining momentum, unforeseen problems made them slide back down like snakes and ladders.
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She was promoted last year, but a mistake caused her to slide back down like snakes and ladders.
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Don't slide back down like snakes and ladders after making progress!
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After the initial success, the project began to slide back down like snakes and ladders.
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After months of hard work, the company slid back down like snakes and ladders when the market crashed.
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Just as they were gaining momentum, unforeseen problems made them slide back down like snakes and ladders.
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After the initial success, the project began to slide back down like snakes and ladders.
Synonyms
28
4.4
To fall suddenly in price or value
8
5.2
To return to a previous bad habit
7
5.4
To fall suddenly, for example by tripping or by losing value
2
7.5
To start doing old bad habits again after making progress
Antonyms
How Severe
Surface Forms
Morphology
slide + back + down + like + snakes + and + ladder
The core phrase 'slide back down' is compositionally clear — a learner who knows 'slide', 'back' and 'down' can infer a move backward or loss of progress. However, the simile 'like snakes and ladders' invokes the board game's specific ups-and-downs and relies on cultural/metaphorical knowledge to signal sudden reversal, so the full idiomatic nuance is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
The phrase slide back down like snakes and ladders comes from the children's board game 'Snakes and Ladders'. In the game you can climb ladders but if you land on a snake you slide back down, losing the progress you had made, so the phrase means 'to lose progress or fall back after moving forward'.