a monte

upstream; to ruin or cancel

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phrase Rare #39,172

upstream; to ruin or cancel With andare a monte, it means “to fail” or “to fall through.” With mandare a monte, it means “to ruin,” “to spoil,” or “to cancel” something. In the literal sense, it refers to a place upstream or toward the source of a river.

IT: Il temporale ha mandato a monte i nostri piani.

EN: The storm ruined our plans.

Vanno a monte, ecco la verità.

They’re going downhill, that’s the truth.

— Le iene (1992)

Ho mandato a monte l'audizione per il Montréal Comedy Festival.

I blew the audition for the Montréal Comedy Festival.

— The Big Sick - Il matrimonio si può evitare... l'amore no (2017)

Manderai tutto a monte.

You'll ruin everything.

— Quei bravi ragazzi (1990)

E ora che stava per accadere non potevo mandarlo a monte.

And now that it was about to happen I couldn't let it go.

— Contrattempo (2017)

Noi ci muoveremo a monte.

We will move upstream.

— War Machine (2026)