wild-goose chase

W w

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [wahyld goos cheys]
- /waɪld gus tʃeɪs/
- /waɪld ɡuːs tʃeɪs/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [wahyld goos cheys]
- /waɪld gus tʃeɪs/

Definitions of wild-goose chase words

noun wild-goose chase a wild or absurd search for something nonexistent or unobtainable: a wild-goose chase looking for a building long demolished. 1
noun wild-goose chase any senseless pursuit of an object or end; a hopeless enterprise: Her scheme of being a movie star is a wild-goose chase. 1
noun wild-goose chase (figuratively) A futile search, a fruitless errand; a useless and often lengthy pursuit. 0
noun wild-goose chase A task whose execution is inordinately complex relative to the value of the outcome. 0

See all 4 definitions of wild-goose chase

Information block about the term

Origin of wild-goose chase

First appearance:

before 1585

One of the 35% oldest English words

First recorded in 1585-95

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Wild-goose chase

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Wild-goose chase

wild-goose chase popularity

This term is known only to a narrow circle of people with rare knowledge. Only 27% of English native speakers know the meaning of this word.

According to our data most of word are more popular. This word is almost not used. It has a much more popular synonym.

Synonyms for wild-goose chase

noun wild-goose chase

distractor — a person or thing that distracts the attention.
fool's errand — a completely absurd, pointless, or useless errand.
legwork — work or research involving extensive walking or traveling about, usually away from one's office, as in gathering data for a book, a legal action, etc.

All 3 Synonyms of wild-goose chase

Matching words

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