wild-goose chasenoun [ C ]
uk/ˌwaɪldˈɡuːs ˌtʃeɪs/us/ˌwaɪldˈɡuːs ˌtʃeɪs/informala search that is completely unsuccessful and a waste of time because the person or thing being searched for does not exist or is somewhere else:
After two hours spent wandering in the snow, I realized we were on a wild goose chase.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Searching
- a needle in a haystack idiom
- beachcomber
- bounty hunter
- burrow
- cast around
- dig
- drag
- nose
- once-over
- pick
- pick through sth
- poke
- poke around
- seek
- strip search
- trail
- turn a place inside out idiom
- turn sth upside down idiom
- wanted
- witch hunt
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