will-o'-the-wispnoun [ C usually singular ]
uk/ˌwɪl.ə.ðəˈwɪsp/us/ˌwɪl.ə.ðəˈwɪsp/something that is impossible to get or achieve:
Full employment is the will-o'-the-wisp that politicians have been chasing for decades.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Unachievable
- be (a) no go idiom
- be on a hiding to nothing idiom
- be out of your league idiom
- cat
- elusive
- impossible
- impossibly
- impracticable
- in/out of the running idiom
- infeasible
- inoperable
- league
- love
- no way idiom
- nohow
- running
- unfeasible
- unworkable
- way
- you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear idiom
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