short drop and a sudden stop
- idiom
- Archaic
:
caída repentina
- The athlete's career came to a short drop and a sudden stop after the injury that ended his chances for the Olympics.
Examples
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After the company’s financial scandal, its success ended with a short drop and a sudden stop.
-
He always drove carefully, knowing that one mistake might mean a short drop and a sudden stop.
-
Many old pirate tales warned criminals of a short drop and a sudden stop if they were caught.
-
The project ended with a short drop and a sudden stop.
-
After years of success, the company faced a short drop and a sudden stop.
-
Her ambitious plans for a promotion ended with a short drop and a sudden stop when the merger was announced unexpectedly.
-
The team's winning streak concluded in a short drop and a sudden stop when their star player was sidelined by a serious injury.
Synonyms
106
2.5
A sudden drop in amount, value, or importance
45
1.0
A sudden fall from a higher place to a lower place
3
9.9
A sudden end to something that is happening
Antonyms
How Severe
- Archaic
2
3.7
3
9.9
148
3.6
- Informal
19
3.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
short + drop + and + a + sudden + stop
The phrase is directly compositional: 'short drop' (a brief fall) combined with 'a sudden stop' (an abrupt cessation) yields the clear idea of an abrupt, harsh ending. This use of fall/stop metaphors to describe endings is common across languages and follows normal English composition, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would likely infer the meaning.
Etymology
Short drop and a sudden stop comes from the scary image of a hanging where the rope gives only a small fall, a short drop, and the body stops quickly, a sudden stop. So the phrase became a picture for 'a quick and disastrous ending'.