MEANING
A futile search that wastes time because its target does not exist or is elsewhere.
Use it for
describing a search based on a false lead; showing effort wasted on an unavailable target; portraying a pointless investigation; distinguishing a difficult search from a fundamentally misdirected oneNames wasted pursuit of a nonexistent, unavailable or wrongly located target. Writing functions: Futile pursuit.
Words that belong together
- send someone on a wild-goose chase
- lead to a wild-goose chase
On the page
An outdated catalog number sent us on a wild-goose chase through three storehouses.
The witness’s invented address led the investigators on a wild-goose chase.
Word forms
- Base
- wild-goose chase
Usage notes
Count noun phrase: a wild-goose chase/wild-goose chases. Unhyphenated wild goose chase is a spelling variant, not another entry. Register: informal. Commonness: common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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