wild-goose chase

[ wahyld-goos ]
See synonyms for wild-goose chase on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a wild or absurd search for something nonexistent or unobtainable: a wild-goose chase looking for a building long demolished.

  2. any senseless pursuit of an object or end; a hopeless enterprise: Her scheme of being a movie star is a wild-goose chase.

Origin of wild-goose chase

1
First recorded in 1585–95

Words Nearby wild-goose chase

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wild-goose chase in a sentence

  • People might well have argued that it was a waste of money to send Christopher Columbus on a wild goose chase.

    Man on the Moon | The Daily Beast | July 19, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • "If you tell me to I s'pose I must, but I think it's a wild-goose chase anyhow," was the disapproving answer.

    Joyce's Investments | Fannie E. Newberry
  • "I like him well enough to go on a wild-goose chase in search of him," the lady replied.

    A Little Union Scout | Joel Chandler Harris
  • Miss Waller instantly denounced the scheme as a wild-goose chase, asserting that May was certain to lose her way.

    The Quiver 3/1900 | Anonymous
  • In another minute he'd be on his way to a strange sun and a strange world, on what might well be the wild-goose chase of all time.

    The Colors of Space | Marion Zimmer Bradley
  • But nothing could be heard at first, and Mr. Blowitt again intimated that they were engaged in a "wild-goose chase."

British Dictionary definitions for wild-goose chase

wild-goose chase

noun
  1. an absurd or hopeless pursuit, as of something unattainable

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with wild-goose chase

wild-goose chase

A futile search or pursuit, as in I think she sent us on a wild goose chase looking for their beach house. This idiom originally referred to a form of 16th-century horseracing requiring riders to follow a leader in a particular formation (presumably resembling a flock of geese in flight). Its figurative use dates from about 1600.

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