🗓️ Idiom: A Recipe for Disaster (n)
💬 Meaning
- A situation or plan that is very likely to fail or cause serious problems.
- A combination of factors that will almost certainly lead to trouble.
🧠 Example Sentences
- Ignoring safety checks in a regulated industry is a recipe for disaster.
- Rushing through compliance training is a recipe for disaster in a high-risk workplace.
- Letting departments manage their own audits without oversight could be a recipe for disaster.
🏛️ Origin
The phrase uses the metaphor of a cooking recipe. Just as certain ingredients create a specific dish, certain actions or choices can create failure or trouble. It became common in the 20th century to describe bad planning or dangerous decisions.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
Letting staff skip compliance updates is __________.
Answer
a recipe for disaster
2. Choose the correct meaning of “a recipe for disaster”:
A) A list of steps to solve a problem
B) A plan that is likely to go very wrong
C) A new way to succeed in business
Answer
B) A plan that is likely to go very wrong
3. Change the sentence using “a recipe for disaster”:
“Not following the new data privacy law will definitely lead to big problems.”
Answer
Not following the new data privacy law is a recipe for disaster.
ℹ️ Other Useful Pages
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👉 Regulation and Compliance Idioms
👉 Business English Idioms List
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Rob is a CELTA qualified English teacher with 15 years of international experience. He has a BSc and PGDip from Loughborough and St Andrews universities in the UK. He has taught in Thailand and Saudi Arabia and now works with professionals worldwide.
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