1. go pear-shaped - Verb
2. go pear-shaped - Phrase
go pear shaped (third-person singular simple present goes pear shaped, present participle going pear shaped, simple past went pear shaped, past participle gone pear shaped)
Alternative form of go pear-shaped
go pear-shaped (third-person singular simple present goes pear-shaped, present participle going pear-shaped, simple past went pear-shaped, past participle gone pear-shaped)
(intransitive, Australia, Britain, New Zealand, idiomatic) To go awry; to go wrong. [from 1980s]
Synonyms: go downhill, go down the toilet, (Cockney rhyming slang) go Pete Tong, go sideways, go to pot, (vulgar) go to shit, go to the dogs, turn pear-shaped
Antonyms: see Thesaurus:prosper
go pear shaped
A thought came across my mind: if things go pear-shaped on this swim, how long will it take for my frozen body to sink the four and a half kilometers to the bottom of the ocean? Lewis Pugh