Meaning

2 senses
  1. (idiomatic)A foolish undertaking, especially one that is purposeless, fruitless, nonsensical, or certain to fail.

    vergebliche Mühe, Metzgergang

  2. (idiomatic)Such an undertaking, assigned as a prank.

    Meronyms: blinker fluid, key to the midway, left-handed monkey wrench, muffler bearing, skyhook

    Near-synonym: wild-goose chase

More definitions
  • a fruitless mission

Translations

6 languages
Deutsch
By meaning 1
foolish undertaking:

Origin

First use apppears c. the 18th century.

First use apppears c. the 18th century.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

fool's errand — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto