worst-case scenario

the worst-case scenario

The worst possible thing that could happen. We don't expect it to happen, but we need to plan for the worst-case scenario. The worst-case scenario here is that we lose the next three games and miss the playoffs. The best-case scenario is that we win out and get a bye in the first round.
See also: scenario
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

worst-case scenario

Cliché the worse possible future outcome. Now, let's look at the worst-case scenario. In the worst-case scenario, we're all dead.
See also: scenario
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

worst-case scenario

n. the worst possible future outcome. Now, let’s look at the worst-case scenario.
See also: scenario
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

worst-case scenario

See best/worst case scenario.
See also: scenario
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • the worst-case scenario
  • make a case that
  • if anything should happen
  • open-and-shut case
  • an open-and-shut case
  • in case
  • have a case on
  • have a case on (someone)
  • be on somebody's case
  • be on someone's case
References in periodicals archive
Setting out a vision of jammed ports, public protests and widespread disruption, the paper said the forecasts compiled by the Cabinet Office set out the most likely aftershocks of a no-deal Brexit rather than the worst-case scenarios.
WORST-CASE SCENARIO: No points and the Welshman's job will be hanging by a thread.
In a worst-case scenario, Region 1 could lose 75,545.98 MT of corn planted in about 262,853 hectares with an estimated value of P2.982 billion.
"We condemn this launch and hope that all the respective sides will manage to keep calm, which is very necessary to prevent the worst-case scenario on the Korean Peninsula," Peskov added.
"In the worst-case scenario, which is zero relations with Russia, we are talking about a loss of $9 billion," Mehmet Simsek, the deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, told private NTV television.
The Complete Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Dating & Sex provides a comprehensive handbook for fielding the slings and arrows of romance, and packs in hundreds of scenarios from across the series plus dozens of new entries on romantic trysts gone bad.
One elegant feature was the authors" presentation of several worst-case scenarios in which it was assumed that the upper range of the risk estimates applied.
The document, which envisaged the budget deficit reaching six per cent instead of the forecasted four per cent, was simply making a 'worst-case scenario assessment' claimed Stavrakis adding that this was just "one of many such exercises that the finance ministry conducts." This was, apparently, the "most extreme and pessimistic scenario" examined by the ministry technocrats.
Minister Benny Begin, a geologist and the minister responsible for earthquake preparedness, says it's impossible and illogical to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Begin did not accept the report's conclusions, saying it simply is a way of "scaring the public." He added, "Japan didn't prepare for a 9.0 earthquake" If people were to prepare for the worst-case scenario before entering their car, they would either never drive, or else only if they had an armed personnel carrier."
Maher presented the view as a worst-case scenario when Clinton asked for his opinion on the best- and worst-case scenarios for the long-delayed relocation of Futenma.
Complete Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Man Skills packs in over 500 pages of manly survival scenarios and new advice for modern perils.
Compare the worst-case scenarios with what you can potentially achieve, and determine how you would respond if the worst-case scenario occurred.
That's a worst-case scenario, researchers say, but one we should still take seriously.
McAllister said: "Worst-case scenario is it could be next year before I'm back in the ring.
If health care reform isn't enacted, within 10 years under the worst-case scenario, the number of people without insurance would increase by more than 30 percent in 29 states.