wild goose chase
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++LDOCE 5++ˌwild ˈgoose ˌchase noun [countable] LOOK FORa situation where you are looking for something that does not exist or that you are very unlikely to find, so that you waste a lot of time 徒劳之举，白费气力的追逐 It looks like they’ve sent us on a wild goose chase. 看来他们是给了我们一个劳而无功的差事。
Examples from the Corpus
wild goose chase• I thought, Don't know about a wild goose chase, this is a lame duck chase.• Each shopping trip is a wild goose chase.• Instead of that, he had become involved in what was most likely a wild goose chase.• Looking around the room, Harry wondered if Potts had deliberately sent him on a wild goose chase.• They deliberately sent me on a wild goose chase.• On that occasion their predicament had been spotted and a boat had been sent out from Sharpness on a wild goose chase.• The photographs might represent a wild goose chase after the random neuroses of an insecure young woman.• Save yourself a wild goose chase round the shops.ˌwild ˈgoose ˌchase nounChineseSyllable
something Corpus situation looking for that you a does not where are
wild goose chase
ˌwild ˈgoose ˌchase
noun [countable]
a situation where you are looking for something that does not exist or that you are very unlikely to find, so that you waste a lot of time:
It looks like they’ve sent us on a wild goose chase.
ˌwild ˈgoose ˌchase
noun [countable]a situation where you are looking for something that does not exist or that you are very unlikely to find, so that you waste a lot of time: