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Synonyms

fool's errand

American  

noun

  1. a completely absurd, pointless, or useless errand.

fool's errand British  

noun

  1. a fruitless undertaking

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
fool's errand Idioms  

  1. A fruitless mission or undertaking, as in Asking the bank for yet another loan was clearly a fool's errand. [c. 1700]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

According to history, betting against Microsoft’s stock over the longer term has been a fool’s errand.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 24, 2026

Trying to assign an exact reason to Bitcoin’s collapse can be a fool’s errand, but one risk increasingly cited by short sellers is the rise of quantum computing, S3 said.

From Barron's • Feb. 10, 2026

Trying to explain journalistic ethics to a lifelong criminal was probably a fool’s errand, but I still tried.

From Slate • Dec. 1, 2025

Teasing out the plot’s tangled threads and expecting each to adhere to logic is a fool’s errand, yet what viewer will insist this type of picture have an airtight story?

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 28, 2025

Mom always planted a row of corn even though that was a bit of a fool’s errand.

From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.