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Showing results for fool's errand. Search instead for fool's+errand.
Synonyms

fool's errand

American  

noun

  1. a completely absurd, pointless, or useless errand.

fool's errand British  

noun

  1. a fruitless undertaking

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
fool's errand Idioms  

  1. A fruitless mission or undertaking, as in Asking the bank for yet another loan was clearly a fool's errand. [c. 1700]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Betting against Nvidia has also been a fool’s errand in the past three years.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026

And when it comes to healing, understanding the exact contribution to improvement is a fool’s errand.

From Slate • Jan. 30, 2026

Teasing out the plot’s tangled threads and expecting each to adhere to logic is a fool’s errand, yet what viewer will insist this type of picture have an airtight story?

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 28, 2025

But they are on a fool’s errand: Crashes are an inevitable feature of not just the stock market but the crypto marketplace as well.

From MarketWatch • Oct. 15, 2025

Sometimes they are victims of professional narcissism and write as if the reader were interested in every blind alley, fool’s errand, and wild-goose chase they engaged in while exploring the topic.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.