Meaning
Gone badly wrong or developed in an unintended and unsuccessful way. Informal. Usually applied to a situation, plan or performance rather than a person's body. Regional use: Chiefly United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
Origin
The expression appears in British evidence from the 1960s and is commonly associated with Royal Air Force slang. Explanations based on a badly executed aerobatic loop are plausible but have not been demonstrated from contemporary records, so the visual step from pear shape to failure remains uncertain.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Go pear-shaped
- Things went pear-shaped
- Turn pear-shaped
Usage Examples
- The launch went pear-shaped when the payment service stopped responding.
- Everything turned pear-shaped after the caterer arrived at the wrong address.