to turn to shit
- phrasal verb
- Offensive
- Things are turning to shit out there, aren't they?
- life turns to shit
Examples
-
The project we worked hard on has completely turned to shit after the budget cuts.
-
Ever since you got engaged, everything's turned to shit!
-
This whole place is turning to shit
-
Everything you do, everything you touch turns to shit!
-
Does everything you touch turn to shit?
-
It's all turned to shit!
-
Everything I touch turns to shit.
Fiction book (2002) -
By then, the cars were already starting to turn to shit.
Blog text (14) -
My simple and elegant plan is turning to shit right in front of my eyes.
-
Just don't come crying to me when this turns to shit.
Synonyms
Plans or hopes suddenly fail and disappear for good
To become bad or fail, for example a relationship
To stop working or fail completely
To become much worse very quickly and out of control
To be completely ruined and lose all value
Start to break into pieces or stop working well
To fail completely
Completely ruined or wasted and no longer useful
To suddenly become chaotic and very messy
To stop working or to die after a long time of getting worse
Antonyms
How Destroyed
- Offensive
- Informal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from the parts: 'turn' = change/become and 'shit' = worthless/ruined, with the pattern 'turn to X' (= become X) producing 'become ruined'. This is a productive, compositional metaphor (albeit vulgar/informal), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can reasonably infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Turn to shit paints a strong picture: the verb turn and the word shit make you imagine something good changing into dirty, useless waste. So, it is used to say something has 'deteriorated badly' or 'failed completely'.