How to Use go off the rails in a Sentence

go off the rails

idiom
  • In the second act, the production threatens to go off the rails.
    Vulture, 25 Apr. 2022
  • But things go off the rails when Veronica leaves to go back to her room.
    Anne Cohen, refinery29.com, 18 Sep. 2020
  • Saturday's launch appeared to go off the rails from the start.
    Jackie Wattles, CNN, 30 Aug. 2021
  • From here, things really go off the rails and sort of… stop making sense.
    Alex Raiman, EW.com, 5 Aug. 2022
  • On the next play, White was off to the races, breathing some life into a season that threatened to go off the rails.
    Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 7 Nov. 2021
  • Speeches can quickly get long-winded and go off the rails.
    Alexandra MacOn, Vogue, 17 May 2022
  • This is where things really go off the rails because the first round will be a best-of-three series.
    Staff Writer follow, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2023
  • Jen turns the tables on Whitney and asks about her dispute with Heather, and things quickly go off the rails.
    Scott D. Pierce, The Salt Lake Tribune, 14 Dec. 2022
  • For some faculty, the new year brings not a return to normal but a strong sense that things could go off the rails.
    BostonGlobe.com, 6 Sep. 2021
  • Teenage angst goes supernatural when the new girl at school falls in with a coven of witches — and things go off the rails.
    Lauren Puckett-Pope, Good Housekeeping, 19 May 2022
  • If Congress does go off the rails, there are other measures that can be taken.
    Brad McMillan, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2023
  • Signing onto the film, Vaughn was well aware that such a gender-swapping role had the potential to go off the rails.
    Josh Rottenberg, chicagotribune.com, 13 Nov. 2020
  • Things begin, ever so slightly, to go off the rails when a letter arrives.
    Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2021
  • There is little debate about the moment the Biden presidency began to go off the rails.
    James Pindell, BostonGlobe.com, 15 July 2022
  • But the music often threatened to go off the rails, with Gluzman pushing ahead so much that the orchestra couldn’t keep up.
    Tim Diovanni, Dallas News, 29 May 2021
  • Also in the Range Rover cargo space: a large part of the responsibility for not having the 2022 season go off the rails.
    Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 Feb. 2023
  • Your current budget may not match your spending, and you might be tempted to go off the rails in terms of retail therapy.
    Chicago Tribune, 30 June 2022
  • Kirt is still the primary source of laughs, particularly as her lessons to the skater boys about how to treat women better go off the rails.
    Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 10 June 2021
  • The slower pace of traveling by train allows for a more intimate journey — here’s how to ensure your trip doesn’t go off the rails.
    Rachel Chang, Travel + Leisure, 15 Aug. 2020
  • At least until things start to get uncomfortable, then go off the rails entirely.
    Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Dec. 2022
  • Rick Hasen, a law professor at UC Irvine, has heard from many people who believe that the election could go off the rails in several different ways.
    Annie Vainshtein, SFChronicle.com, 21 Oct. 2020
  • The shorthand served as a coded reminder that no matter how well-planned his aides’ effort to curb his sprawling spitefulness and errant tweets, they were destined to go off the rails.
    Philip Elliott, Time, 2 June 2021
  • This has been portrayed as a grave danger to the system, providing yet another way for a presidential election to go off the rails.
    Daniel Larsen, Star Tribune, 2 Nov. 2020
  • There are so many ways the story could go off the rails, but Morosini’s script is equally grounded and outrageous and it’s all held together by Oswalt’s high-wire act.
    Jenelle Riley, Variety, 10 Mar. 2023
  • But individuals--or, groups that are very like minded--may go off the rails when using reasoning.
    Chris Mooney, Discover Magazine, 25 Apr. 2011
  • But my tests reveal Snapchat is far from mastering when, and why, its AI might go off the rails — much less what the long-term impact might be of developing a relationship with it.
    Geoffrey A. Fowler, Washington Post, 10 Mar. 2023
  • The Jackbox Party Pack series consists of various party game collections that are easy to play and can quickly go off the rails in the best way possible.
    Michael Andronico, CNN Underscored, 22 Dec. 2020
  • Fortunately, the second season of Russian Doll, despite featuring trains and subway cars in a central role, doesn’t go off the rails at all.
    Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Apr. 2022
  • Things go off the rails for reasons both mundane, like actors forgetting their lines, and elaborately absurd.
    Vulture, 19 Apr. 2023
  • When things go off the rails and secrets are revealed, their relaxing vacation turns into a once-in-a-lifetime cross-country adventure.
    Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 July 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'go off the rails.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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