come to nothing

Idioms and Phrases

Also, come to naught . Fail, as in All his efforts have come to nothing , or The last round of peace talks came to naught . The first term dates from the mid-1500s, the variant from the early 1600s.

Example Sentences

Dogged US efforts to prevent the crisis from escalating, involving presidential visits, countless diplomatic missions and the deployment of vast military resources, have all come to nothing.

From BBC

Months of shuttle diplomacy by the US envoy Amos Hochstein - building on already established UN Security Resolutions on Israel and Hezbollah - have come to nothing.

From BBC

This is true even if the federal probes come to nothing.

From Slate

After years of watching the investigations into Trump come to nothing in the way of legal consequences, of being maddened by his ability to evade punishment, the guilty verdict made for a rare moment of Trump-related joy, mixed with a sprinkling of “I told you so.”

From New York Times

That was the situation in 2014 when a major congressional push to enact far-reaching changes to immigration law appeared tantalizingly close to bearing fruit — only to come to nothing.

From New York Times

Related Words

• baffle
• deceive
• disconcert
• disenchant
• dishearten
• disillusion
• dissatisfy
• dumbfound
• fail
• hamper
• mislead