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Glite Dictionary
to turn to dust

to turn to dust

7 6.6
To be completely ruined and lose all value
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : convertirse en polvo
  • Furthermore, this place will turn to dust in a week.
  • bones turned to dust
  • body turned to dust
  • just turned to dust

Just as I and all those I loved would someday turn to dust.

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Examples

  • "Our home is turning to dust!"

    Fiction book (2001)

  • I can remember the devastation, the destruction, cities turned to dust.

    Gangland (2001)

  • All of that will turn to dust.

    Salvation Boulevard (2011)

  • And anyone who touches it will turn to dust.

    The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1988)

  • Your fields have literally turned to dust.

    Blog text (6)

  • God stands far off and watches while everything I own turns to dust.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Their riches have turned to dust.

    Blog text (16)

  • The crops were swallowed by the earth and the animals turned to dust.

    Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

  • They've dried up within me; they've gone and turned to dust.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • After years of hard work, his plans for success turned to dust when the company went bankrupt.

Synonyms

to die
vsto turn to dust
840 4.8

To stop being felt, as a feeling or idea

focuses on complete destruction or worthlessness rather than a simple end
to die out
vsto turn to dust
47 3.7

To stop existing over time, for example animals or traditions

denotes sudden or complete ruin rather than slow disappearance
to go up in smoke
vsto turn to dust
  • Informal
18 5.5

Plans or hopes suddenly fail and disappear for good

can mean total ruin but not always with sudden disappearance
to become extinct
vsto turn to dust
15 4.5

Stop existing as a kind of animal, plant, or language

is broader, meaning total ruin or worthlessness beyond species loss
to bite the dust
vsto turn to dust
  • Informal
11 6.8

To stop working or fail completely

refers to whole ruin or worthlessness in a neutral register
to come to nothing
vsto turn to dust
6 4.6

Fail to produce any result

means total ruin or becoming worthless rather than mere failure
to return to dust
vsto turn to dust
  • Literature
1 8.3

To slowly fall apart and disappear over time

is about complete ruin or worthlessness rather than just physical decay
to vanish off the face of the earth
vsto turn to dust
  • Informal
1 8.1

Disappear completely so no one knows what happened and no sign is left

expresses ruin or being worthless rather than only disappearance

Antonyms

to flourish
116 4.1

To grow strongly and be healthy or successful

to prosper
88 3.7

To become successful or grow well, often by making money

How Destroyed

to turn to dust
7 6.6
to ruin
∞ 2.0
to damage
885 1.4
scratch
203 1.6

Surface Forms

turn to dust infinitive
turned to dust past
turned to dust past participle
turning to dust present participle
turns to dust third person singular

Morphology

turn + to + dust

The sense 'to come to complete ruin' follows directly from combining 'turn' (change into) with 'dust' (tiny particles): literally something that 'turns to dust' changes into crumbs and thus is destroyed. This is a regular verb + prepositional phrase pattern and a common cross-linguistic metaphor for destruction, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the meaning.

Etymology

The idiom turn to dust gives a simple picture: something solid turns into tiny dust particles and crumbles away. That's why we use it to say something 'comes to complete ruin' or 'becomes worthless'.