dog's breakfast
1
9.5
- idiom
- UK
:
un desastre
- After the chaotic meeting, we all agreed that our strategy had turned into a dog's breakfast.
Examples
-
Her attempt to organize the event was a complete dog's breakfast, with last-minute changes confusing everyone.
-
The long form data will be a dog's breakfast.
Blog text (12) -
That would be the dog's breakfast, Your Majesty.
-
The presentation was a dog's breakfast, with slides out of order and missing information.
Synonyms
9
5.1
A situation that is badly organized and full of mistakes
1
8.3
A situation, job, or piece of work that is messy and badly done
A confused mixture of things that makes a mess
A situation that is very messy and a complete disaster
A very messy, confused mix of things in one place
A very chaotic and difficult task or situation
A situation that is very messy and badly managed
Antonyms
How Messy
Surface Forms
Morphology
dog's + breakfast
The literal constituents ('dog' + 'breakfast') yield the image of a dog's morning meal, which does not directly or predictably convey the meaning 'a messy or badly done situation.' This is a culturally specific, idiomatic British expression whose semantic drift is not compositional, so a B1 learner knowing the words would unlikely infer the intended sense without prior exposure.
Etymology
The noun dog's breakfast may come from the image of a dog's breakfast being a messy plate of leftovers and scraps. So calling something a dog's breakfast means 'a complete mess' or a job done very badly.