a wild or absurd search for something nonexistent or unobtainable.
a wild-goose chase looking for a building long demolished.
any senseless pursuit of an object or end; a hopeless enterprise.
Her scheme of being a movie star is a wild-goose chase.
First recorded in 1585–95
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After something like a wild-goose chase, the grounds crew wrapped the big bird in a towel, placed it into a plastic recycling bin and retreated back into the Dodgers dugout.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 13, 2022
This time, the judges not only threw out Mr Odinga's case, but they chastised his legal team, saying the court had been sent on "a wild-goose chase".
From BBC • Sep. 5, 2022
It has also led to a wild-goose chase.
From Washington Post • Feb. 1, 2022
After exhausting almost all the public footpaths, I had a sinking suspicion I was on a wild-goose chase.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 4, 2016
Of course, the more she wandered the station, the more likely she’d be seen, but it was worth the risk to confound the DNA detectors and send her pursuers on a wild-goose chase.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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.
