car crash

car crash (plural car crashes)

1. The collision of one or more cars
2. (by extension) A mess or disaster, especially one that attracts a lot of attention.
   • 2003, Mary-Ann Constantine, Gerald Porter, Fragments and Meaning in Traditional Song: From the Blues to the Baltic, →ISBN:

     In this instance the departure is radical: this is a real car crash of a ballad, impacted (the beginning and end have crushed together) and distorted, yet still recognizable.

   • 2008, Eamonn Holmes, This Is My Life: Eamonn Holmes: The Autobiography, →ISBN:

     Some presenters are very good at thinking on their feet, and some presenters can't even think whether they're on their feet or sitting down. That can lead to car crash TV, and sometimes the viewers quite like it.

   • 2011, Ella Kingsley, Confessions Of A Karaoke Queen, →ISBN:

     He's probably forgotten about that part of our exchange already. I mean, the rest of it wasn't a total car crash ... was it?

   • 2014, Emma Hannigan, The Heart of Winter, →ISBN:

     'I'm glad one of us has a life that isn't a total car crash,' Jules said with a sad smile.

• car wreck

• hot mess
• train wreck