Idiom
go up in smoke
Meaning
To be completely ruined, devastated, or reduced to nothingness.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“All my hard work went up in smoke.”
“When the company lost its main investor, the plans for the new office went up in smoke.”
“After years of meticulous preparation, the entrepreneur watched his dreams go up in smoke when the market crashed unexpectedly.”
Examples
simple
“All my hard work went up in smoke.”
contextual
“When the company lost its main investor, the plans for the new office went up in smoke.”
complex
“After years of meticulous preparation, the entrepreneur watched his dreams go up in smoke when the market crashed unexpectedly.”
Key words
Related idioms
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