all hell breaks loose
English
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Phrase
editall hell breaks loose (simple past all hell broke loose)
- (idiomatic) The situation becomes chaotic or characterized by conflict or rage.
- 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- Came not all hell broke loose?
- 1992 August 19, “Beckel, Barnes and Rollins Discuss the Republican Convention”, in CBS Morning:
- I think it's kind of fun because, had Hillary Clinton spoken at the Democratic Convention, all hell would have broken loose.
- 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 2:05 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?[1], archived from the original on 3 November 2022:
- The U.S. commanders received the news in a moment of stunned silence. Then, all hell broke loose as, off in the distance, antiaircraft fire was spotted as the antisubmarine patrol aircraft made optimistic and recklessly-brave assaults; four aircraft in total, armed with depth charges, attacked over a dozen enemy fleet units.
Usage notes
edit- Both as a sentence and a clause this term allows all normal conjugated forms of the verb.
Translations
editthe situation becomes chaotic
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