Go Belly Up

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🗓️ Idiom: Go Belly Up

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💬 Meaning

• To fail completely, especially a business.
• It means something has stopped working or gone bankrupt.

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🧠 Example Sentences

• The supplier went belly up last month and left us without key materials.
• If we don’t fix this issue soon, the whole logistics plan could go belly up.
• Many small transport companies went belly up during the economic downturn.

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🏛️ Origin

The idiom comes from the image of a dead fish floating with its belly facing upward. In business, it’s used to describe companies or projects that fail completely or go bankrupt.

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📝 Practice Exercises

1. Fill in the blank:

The logistics firm __________ after losing its biggest client.

Answer

went belly up

2. Choose the correct meaning of “go belly up”:

A) To become very successful
B) To take a short break
C) To fail or go bankrupt
D) To increase in value

Answer

C) To fail or go bankrupt

3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:

“The courier company failed after years of poor management.” → Change the sentence using: go belly up

Answer

The courier company went belly up after years of poor management.

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ℹ️ Other Useful Pages

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