definitions

mare's-nest

[ mairz-nest ]
/ ˈmɛərzˌnɛst /
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mare's-nest ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

something imagined to be an extraordinary discovery but proving to be a delusion or a hoax: The announced cure for the disease was merely another mare's-nest.
an extremely confused, entangled, or disordered place, situation, etc.: We just moved in, and the place is a mare's-nest.

RELATED CONTENT

What’s The #’s Real Name?How do we currently use the # symbol? On Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, you tag your friends with the @ symbol and you tag topics with the #. If you see something that says “#WordoftheDay,” the tweet or post has something to do with Word of the Day. And, once you click on that marked topic, you’ll likely see all public posts about it. It’s a …
READ MORE
Why Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” Was Pure PoetryKing uses anaphora to highlight the difference between how things are and how he hopes they will be. But, what's anaphora?
READ MORE

RELATED WORDS

lie, fraud, scam, illusion, ruse, hoax, trick, subterfuge, cover-up, stratagem, cheat, whitewash, sting, catch, sham, artifice, pretext, gimmick, story, decoy

Nearby words

mare sirenum, mare tranquillitatis, mare tyrrhenum, mare undarum, mare vaporum, mare's-nest, mare's-tail, marek's disease, maremma, maremma sheepdog, marengo

Origin of mare's-nest

First recorded in 1610–20
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for mare's-nest

mare's-nest

noun

a discovery imagined to be important but proving worthless
a disordered situation
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