WILD-GOOSE CHASE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does wild-goose chase mean? 

• WILD-GOOSE CHASE (noun)
  The noun WILD-GOOSE CHASE has 1 sense:

1. the fruitless pursuit of something unattainable

  Familiarity information: WILD-GOOSE CHASE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WILD-GOOSE CHASE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The fruitless pursuit of something unattainable

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("wild-goose chase" is a kind of...):

pursuance; pursuit; quest (a search for an alternative that meets cognitive criteria)

 Context examples 

From the beginning he has never concealed his belief that Professor Challenger is an absolute fraud, that we are all embarked upon an absurd wild-goose chase and that we are likely to reap nothing but disappointment and danger in South America, and corresponding ridicule in England.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You will realize as you read it, my dear Mr. McArdle, and possibly for the first time that the paper has not sent me on a wild-goose chase, and that there is inconceivably fine copy waiting for the world whenever we have the Professor's leave to make use of it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)