chasing rainbows
Seeking the unattainable
Chasing rainbows is pursuing something impossible or illusory—goals that, like the end of a rainbow, can never actually be reached.
The phrase usually carries a dismissive tone: Stop chasing rainbows and get a real job.
Someone chasing rainbows is seen as naive or impractical, wasting effort on fantasies rather than achievable aims.
- pipe dreamUnrealistic aspiration
- impossibleIncapable of occurring
- chimericalImaginary and unrealistic
- mirageAtmospheric optical deception
- elusiveHard to find
tilting at windmills · fool's errand · unattainable · Sisyphean · pie in the sky · castles in the air · flight of fancy · illusion · quixotic · empty promises · fantasy · herding cats · futile · will-o'-the-wisp · wishful thinking · false hope · fool's gold · longing
- Futile tasksfool's errand, tilting at windmills, herding cats, beating dead horse, rearranging deck chairs
- foolishnessfoolishness, silliness, foolish, stupid, folly
- futilityfutile, futility, in vain, pointlessness, vain
- wild goose chasesfool's errand, snipe hunt, futile effort