noble experiment
America's dry years
Noble experiment refers to any ambitious reform undertaken with idealistic intentions but uncertain prospects.
The phrase is most associated with Prohibition in the United States (1920–1933), when the manufacture and sale of alcohol was banned—an effort that failed spectacularly.
The term now carries ironic overtones, often applied to well-meaning initiatives that proved naive or unworkable: The company's four-day workweek was a noble experiment that lasted six months.
- bottleContainer for liquids
- bootlegIllegally produced goods
- bathtub ginAmateur-made illegal liquor
- rum runnerAlcohol smuggler, especially maritime
- trialJudicial examination of claims
prohibition · Eighteenth Amendment · temperance movement · ferment · blue ribbon · abolitionism · social reform · good intentions · legislation · utopia · civil rights movement · suffrage movement · ideal society · speakeasy · failure · roaring twenties · teetotalism · amendment
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