chasing tail
Effort without progress
Chasing tail means pursuing sexual partners, typically used by or about men seeking casual encounters: He spent his twenties chasing tail in bars.
The phrase can also describe any futile, circular pursuit—like a dog chasing its own tail—where effort produces no progress: We've been chasing tail on this project for months.
- pursuingSeeking to attain
- circlingMoving around a center
- futileIncapable of producing results
- spinningRevolving around an axis
- spinning wheelsFiber-twisting textile devices
dog · playful · distraction · wasting time · going nowhere · running in circles · loop · endless · fruitless · flirting · hunting · pursuit · cat and mouse · restless · dizzy · round and round · going round · pointless
- foolishnessfoolishness, silliness, foolish, stupid, folly
- Futile Effortslost causes, fool's errand, dead end, waste of time, Sisyphean task
- stagnationstagnation, standstill, stasis, deadlock, stalemate
- time wastingprocrastinating, procrastination, dawdling, dithering, puttering
chasing tailmaking headway
Achieving forward progress
making progress · moving forward · gaining ground · advancing · on track
chasing tailsettling down
Becoming stable and rooted
committed · monogamous · playing it cool · celibate · abstinent
chasing tailgoal-oriented
Focused on objectives
methodical · deliberate · systematic · on a mission · laser-focused
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