damp squib

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noun British Informal.

something meant but failing to impress or succeed.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of damp squib

First recorded in 1965–70

Words nearby damp squib

damping, damping-off, damp-mop, damp off, dampproof, damp squib, Damrosch, damsel, damsel bug, damselfish, damselfly

How to use damp squib in a sentence

The bipartisan infrastructure package working its way through congress is, at best, a damp squib from a climate standpoint.
'Widespread and Severe.' The Climate Crisis Is Here, But There’s Still Time to Limit the Damage|Michael E. Mann|August 9, 2021|Time
For the most anticipated earnings event of the year to date, GameStop’s call with analysts on Tuesday night was something of a damp squib.
The GameStop earnings were an anticlimax. Its 10-K filing, though…|Samanth Subramanian|March 24, 2021|Quartz
Such love must come to disaster; it is like a damp squib, it is never properly alight and fades out swiftly in noisy splutters.
Women's Wild Oats|C. Gasquoine Hartley
It must be owned that they were decidedly daring, yet in the nature of damp-squib affairs, as it turned out.
The Illustrated War News, Number 21, Dec. 30, 1914|Various

Our artillery put salvoes at once upon those trenches; and the raid of that night proved a damp squib.
With the British Army in The Holy Land|Henry Osmond Lock
Deprived of the Sheikhs countenance the jehad proved a rather damp squib.
The Cradle of Mankind|W.A. Wigram
"No you don't," said the dragon in a spluttering voice, like a damp squib.
The Book of Dragons|Edith Nesbit