Meaning of damp squib | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A firework that has been wet and therefore fails to go off correctly.
   literally
2. Anything that does not work properly, or fails to come up to expectations; a dud.
   broadly, idiomatic

Equivalents

Examples

“The anonymous oracle, the author of this pamphlet, is an example of entertaining dullness. He has manufactured a very damp squib; he is a serious man in motley; and practical ideas occasionally drop in among his fantastic vaticinations.”

“It sounds very token, another damp squib which will probably end⟳ up benefiting more bureaucrats than artists or scientists.”

“Arsène Wenger confessed: "The result⟳ was not an accurate indication of the match⟳." Certainly, at half-time it seemed unlikely that Arsenal would catch⟳ fire so spectacularly because the first half was a damp squib of a display from Wenger's team, as Newcastle initially showed no ill-effects from their Old Trafford ordeal.”

“A third collection of David Foster Wallace's essays contains genius and damp squibs[.]”

“That whole campaign was a damp squib, they cranked it up as a real possibility that Scotland might win⟳, and when we actually got there it didn't happen⟳ like⟳ that, and everybody came home quite early with their tails between their legs.”

“Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, took the criticism one step further, dubbing the U.K. proposal a “damp squib” that reduces Europeans to “the status of ‘third-country nationals’ in the U.K., with fewer rights than British citizens are offered throughout the EU.””

“How did Kamala Harris go from being a rising star to a damp squib? [title]”

CEFR level