dead in the water
16
6.5
- idiom
- Budget negotiations may be dead in the water after this week.
- a ship dead in the water
- the economy is dead in the water
- go dead in the water
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Watch on YouTubeMy personal feeling is like short films are kind of dead in the water nowadays.
- My personal feeling is like short films are kind of dead in the water nowadays.
- If you give it up by studying the wrong things, you're dead in the water.
- On Tuesday though, Donald Trump U turned and called off talks, saying talks are dead in the water.
Examples
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If we overlook those channels, we'll continue to be dead in the water as we are today.
Blog text (31) -
We're dead in the water.
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The investigation was dead in the water.
Fiction book (2000) -
The conversation is dead in the water.
Fiction book (1998) -
Otherwise, this team is dead in the water in 2013.
Blog text (29) -
After 45 years, America's foreign bilateral assistance program lies dead in the water.
Academic text (1994) -
The company's plans for expansion are dead in the water due to lack of funding.
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After the latest failure, the project was declared dead in the water and abandoned.
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Without any support from the board, her proposal was dead in the water before it even started.
Synonyms
146
2.7
With no chance of success or getting better
36
4.9
A job or situation that gives no chance to move up and get better
21
7.5
Certain to fail and unable to recover
6
6.3
Unable to move forward because of a physical problem or other difficulty
1
7.5
Being without hope of getting better or succeeding
Antonyms
How Viable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'dead' (not functioning) + 'in the water' create a sensible image of something immobilized or stalled (like a boat), so a learner could infer a sense of being stopped. However, extending that physical image to the abstract meaning 'having no chance of succeeding' for projects is metaphorical and context-dependent, so the exact sense is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
The idiom dead in the water comes from boats: when a boat's engine stops or there is no wind, the boat lies dead and cannot move in the water. So, the phrase now means 'unable to continue or succeed'.