What does the phrase, "It's all downhill from here." mean?

Answer 1

the metaphor is based on climing a steep hill, on a bike or walking. its challenging until you reach the top. Once there you begin to descend "going down hill" its easy from that point on.

Answer 2

The specific phrase "it's all downhill from here" is at its simplest used to mean "The hard work's over, and it's all going to be much easier from now on", with (obviously enough) the idiom stemming from finally cresting the top of a hill and starting to go down the other side. (Actually, walking down a steep slope can be every bit as tiring as walking up one, but that's not relevant).

However, I can understand your confusion, since the very similar phrase "to go downhill" means to become worse - "Since the car crash, Jim's tennis game has really gone downhill." This usage almost certainly stems from line graphs, where a downward trend is typically not desirable.

Because of the similarity of these two phrases, the expression "It's all downhill from here" is often used ironically or humorously, specifically because of the implicit double meaning - "The best thing about getting older is that, once you've passed your peak, it's all downhill from there."

As ever, context is everything.

Answer 3

It can either mean that things will only get easier from here on out, or they will only get worse. Generally it's used with the first meaning in mind. An example of the first meaning would be "My calc final was hardest; all the rest of my finals were downhill from there." An example of the second meaning would be "I failed my first calc test, and I knew the rest of the semester would only go downhill from there."

Answer 4

All Downhill From Here

Answer 5

Many of the answerers have confused 2 idioms here.

'...all downhill from here' is the POSITIVE meaning - the hard part is done, things will get better from now.

'to go downhill' :'... is going downhill' or '...has gone downhill' or '...was downhill' is the NEGATIVE meaning - things are getting or have gotten worse.

Hope this helps.

Answer 6

It can mean that things are going to be easier, as when you slide down a snowy hill on a sled or wagon. Things will be faster because you have done the hard part already.

Another meaning is that, things are going to get worse, heading into a valley.

It all depends on how a person speaks and it is good to ask clarifying questions.

Answer 7

It's easier to go down a hill than up. The phrase is a metaphor comparing the task at hand to a hill. It's strenuous difficult to get up and over a hill, but effortless to go down it.
Once you reach a certain point, the hard part of the task is over.

Answer 8

When people refer to age, at a certain point "its all downhill from there". It always refers to a negative context in which things get increasingly worse not better.

Answer 9

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RE:
What does the phrase, "It's all downhill from here." mean?

Answer 10

I was going to say it usually means things will get worse but I guess that might be wrong and probably should be the other meaning since going up a hill is much harder than coming down like the other answer states things will be easier from then on........the worst part is over...

Answer 11

It means either (a) things will be easier from this point, or (b) things will keep getting worse from this point. Reminds me of the meaning of the word 'bad' which can mean either 'bad' or 'very good.' Take your pick!