car crash

plural car crashes

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see car, crash.

   Synonyms: car wreck

2. figurativelyA mess or disaster, especially one that attracts a lot of attention.

   'I'm glad one of us has a life that isn't a total car crash,' Jules said with a sad smile.

   2014, Emma Hannigan, The Heart of Winter, →ISBN

   3 more examples

   In this instance the departure is radical: this is a real car crash of a ballad, impacted (the beginning and end have crushed together) and distorted, yet still recognizable.

   2003, Mary-Ann Constantine, Gerald Porter, Fragments and Meaning in Traditional Song: From the Blues to the Baltic, →ISBN

   Some presenters are very good at thinking on their feet, and some presenters can't even think whether they're on their feet or sitting down. That can lead to car crash TV, and sometimes the viewers quite like it.

   2008, Eamonn Holmes, This Is My Life: Eamonn Holmes: The Autobiography, →ISBN

   He's probably forgotten about that part of our exchange already. I mean, the rest of it wasn't a total car crash ... was it?

   2011, Ella Kingsley, Confessions Of A Karaoke Queen, →ISBN