# wild-goose chase

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/wild-goose-chase
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A futile search, a fruitless errand; a useless and often lengthy task whose execution is inordinately complex relative to the value of the outcome.

## Examples

- The map led us on a wild-goose chase through the forest.
- The manager sent him on a wild-goose chase to find a file that didn't even exist.
- What had begun as a promising lead dissolved into a bureaucratic wild-goose chase, consuming weeks of effort for no tangible result.

## Origin

Early recorded use refers to a sixteenth-century horse race in which riders were compelled to follow the erratic, unpredictable course of the lead horse, mimicking the V-formation of wild geese following their leader. The poet Gervase Markham described this equine pursuit in his 1593 book on horsemanship. It was a contest of following rather than overtaking, requiring the pack to match every sudden turn of the frontrunner, however inconvenient the direction. William Shakespeare employed the term in the play Romeo and Juliet, specifically in Act 2, scene 4, spoken by the character Mercutio: “Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done; for thou hast more of the wild goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five.” The phrase appears again in Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy in 1621. While the sporting origins are well-documented, the current sense of a pursuit without purpose may have preceded the race, with the equestrian event potentially named after the existing idiom. (disputed)

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.