English term
United States
BA in Transl., MA in ESL, 15 yrs of exp.
Native in: Portuguese 
Works in: English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English, Spanish to Portuguese, and 2 more.
go to the hell
1. To be in an extremely and increasingly bad or ruinous condition; to be on the inevitable path to utter failure or ruin.
Our project went to the devil after our funding was cut.
With the way he's running things, the company is going to the devil.
2. To fall into moral degradation.
It seems like our country is going to the devil! No one has any basic decency anymore.
3. An exclamation of anger, annoyance, or exasperation.
If you can't be bothered to run our business like a professional, then you can go to the devil, for all I care!
-- Farlex Dictionary of Idioms
I'm curious as to whether definition no. 2 is correct. I found a similar definition in Oxford (aka Lexico.com), but the examples don't seem to match for the most part. I understand the meaning, just not sure that definition no. 2 makes sense. Any thoughts on this?
Link to Lexico.com entry:
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/go_to_the_devil
Note: To see the examples, click "More example sentences" under no. 2.
Thank you!
| 4 +5 | going to hell/down the tubes |
David Hollywood
|
Mar 1, 2022 20:26: AllegroTrans changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Non-PRO (3): Tony M, Yvonne Gallagher, AllegroTrans
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Responses
worked for int. orgs (IMF, OAS, IDB)
Native in: English
Works in: Spanish to English, German to English
going to hell/down the tubes
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Note added at 8 mins (2022-02-28 23:41:25 GMT)
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definitely not "go to THE hell"
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Note added at 10 mins (2022-02-28 23:43:28 GMT)
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"go to the devil" ok'd by Merriam-Webster
Definition of go to the devil
informal
—used to forcefully and rudely tell someone to go away and leave one alone
She angrily told him to go to the devil.
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Note added at 13 mins (2022-02-28 23:46:53 GMT)
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Would be ok to say "go to hell" or "go to the devil" but not "go to the hell" and depends a lot on context as always.
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Note added at 14 mins (2022-02-28 23:48:00 GMT)
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2. To fall into moral degradation.
It seems like our country is going to the devil!
Now that's fine.
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Note added at 15 mins (2022-02-28 23:48:38 GMT)
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But not "going to THE hell".
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Note added at 19 mins (2022-02-28 23:52:30 GMT)
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Can only repeat that the context will be key in what to use...
| Of course, not go to THE hell. Clearly, a typo, since the very first line right below "go to the hell" (sic) reads "go to the devil". That's the expression in question. |
| You went on and on and did not answer my question, other than just saying yes but no elaboration whatsoever. For example, I pointed out what I perceive to be a mismatch between the definition and the examples. Rather than answering my question, you AGAIN pointed out what should have been interpreted as a TYPO!!! |
| agree |
AllegroTrans
: Definition No. 2 is fine, no more needs to be said, and obvously not THE hell. Given asker's error, this should not go into the glossary.
1 hr
|
| agree |
philgoddard
: "You went on and on and did not answer my question". There's courtesy and gratitude for you.
5 hrs
|
| agree |
Tony M
: Definition 2 is perfectly fine — though probably a commoner expression would be 'going to the dogs'.
7 hrs
|
| agree |
Arabic & More
: I have heard it many times and think it is a fairly common expression (in the US, at least).
8 hrs
|
| agree |
Tina Vonhof (X)
: I think they are all correct depending on the situation (exept "the hell')
18 hrs
|
Discussion
"You went on and on and did not answer my question"
Four native English speakers have confirmed definition number 2
Enough said
"Fall into moral depravity" as in the lexico example 2 ‘he must go to the devil in his own way" implies that he is going to make a pact with the devil i.e. become morally depraved. So I don't really see the problem?
Many examples formulated for dictionaries are just that - formulations - so they may not be all that wonderful
Another dictionary entry also gives "morally depraved" as a meaning https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/go-to-t...