the sky fell in

phrase

A total disaster occurred.

Meanings

phrase
  1. A total disaster occurred.

    Oh June, I really want at least one more good year before the sky falls in.

    2020, Stewert James, The Penny
    5 more examples

    Unless we, as a nation, States, cities—not pointing the finger at any one government structure—all of us—unless we are ready to finally look for meaningful, long-term salient, complex answers to a very complex problem, people are going to appear in front of your committee in 1992, and all of you are going to look back on the good old days of 1989, and we do think the sky is falling in today in New York.

    1990, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary, Review of the National Drug Control Strategy, page 87

    And with the Great Serpent, the sky fell in, and the dry land sank into the sea.

    2004, Frank Joseph, The Destruction of Atlantis

    Cup of tea? As usual! How could anything be usual when the sky had fallen in?

    2008, Annie Murray, The Bells of Bournville Green, page 87

    The sky fell in for European Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, the disabled, and many others when Hitler came to power.

    2022, Tony Jordan, The Man Moses: Life Lessons with Moses

    Bizarrely, United were right in this game for 43 minutes, with Fernandes and Rashford missing arguably the game's two best chances before Gakpo scored and the sky fell in on Ten Hag's team.

    2023 March 5, Phil McNulty, “Liverpool 7-0 Manchester United”, in BBC Sport
Cite this entry
APA

the sky fell in. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20sky%20fell%20in

MLA

“the sky fell in.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20sky%20fell%20in. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “the sky fell in,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20sky%20fell%20in.

Source: the sky fell in on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.