Meaning of all show and no go | Babel Free

Definitions

having only superficial qualities

Examples

““You know you are, and here you are doing all you can to marry nice, rich, little Kitty Marling to a man,—a kind of piebald circus horse, curious to look at, all show and no go. A duller man I don't know. Romance and you trying your best to keep Kitty from Wrexford, who's a sort of nineteenth-century Sidney.””

“We who could benefit from the UN's taking action felt that they were all show and no go. The UN troops appeared to be some form of international effort to solve a problem, but they were actually making the situation worse.”

“When it came to famine and suffering, he looked for the nearest exit. He failed Hell Week. He was all show and no go. In Texas they have a term for that: Big hat, no cattle.”

“The uniform of tight jeans and tube tops, slinky skirts and three-inch heels, however, is all show and no go.”

CEFR level