a roller-coaster ride

roller coaster ride

A series or period of drastic changes that occur without warning. After she graduated from college, her life became a roller coaster ride filled with ups and downs as she tried to establish herself as a fashion designer.
See also: coaster, ride, roller
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a roller-coaster ride

If you describe an experience as a roller-coaster ride, you mean that parts of it were very good and parts of it were very bad. Markets on both sides of the Atlantic have had a roller coaster ride over the past five days. The past week was an emotional roller-coaster ride for these people.
See also: ride
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

a roller-coaster ride

an experience in which circumstances change rapidly and in a volatile manner from one extreme to another.
2004 BBC News: Business Shares have been on a rollercoaster ride, with US shares plunging and then recovering twice over.
See also: ride
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • roller coaster ride
  • coaster
  • roller coaster
  • lose (one's) nerve
  • lose one's nerve
  • be dying for something/to do something
  • be dying to (do something)
  • the urge to purge
  • urge to purge
  • die to
References in periodicals archive
"The thrill of a roller-coaster ride with its climbs, loops and dives can speed up the heart, sparking off an irregular heartbeat that could put individuals with heart disease at risk of having a cardiovascular event like myocardial infarction."
According to the theme park, "Processing the fearful information during a roller-coaster ride can be so intense on your emotional core, it's instantly stored in your Hippocampus (the part of your brain that looks after emotional memories).
A female flies in to cling to the ball for a roller-coaster ride. After the pair mates, the ball serves as baby food.
People can survive just fine without a roller-coaster ride for a few hours--but that doesn't work for a respirator."
AND what a roller-coaster ride this peace process is turning out to be...a roller-coaster ride from hell that is.
"The thrill of a roller-coaster ride is the sense of danger but it is perception rather than reality.