musical chairs

Definitions

1. A children's game in which players circle a group of chairs. There is one chair fewer than the number of players. When someone who is not watching stops playing music, everybody sits down, and the player left without a chair is eliminated.
   uncountable
2. Any activity which results in repeated, pointless shuffling of people or objects.
   figuratively, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“They were married though they needn't have⟳ married, and though both had sworn they never would be. It is hard to explain⟳—in that game of musical chairs—why they should have⟳ stopped, finally, at each other.”

“The job market last⟳ year and earlier in 2022 was like⟳ musical chairs, offering record⟳ opportunities for hopping from seat to seat. Now many feel⟳ that the music is about to stop⟳.”

CEFR level