false dawnnoun [ C usually singular ]
uk/ˌfɒls ˈdɔːn/us/ˌfɑːls ˈdɑːn/something that seems to show that a successful period is beginning or that a situation is improving when it is not:
The increase in sales at the end of the year proved to be a false dawn.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Failures
- a dog's breakfast idiom
- another/the final nail in the coffin idiom
- breakdown
- car crash
- cock-up
- dead duck
- free fall
- hash
- lemon
- lost cause
- lulu
- mess
- mess-up
- might-have-been
- parody
- slush pile
- track record
- train wreck
- turkey
- underachiever
See more results »