smokescreen of success
- noun
- Behind the smokescreen of success, the team was struggling with internal conflicts and missed deadlines.
Examples
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The awards and ceremonies acted as a smokescreen of success, masking deeper problems within the corporation.
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The CEO's public announcements created a smokescreen of success that fooled most investors.
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The smokescreen of success fooled many experienced investors.
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Many investors fell for the smokescreen of success created by the CEO.
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The CEO's public announcements created a smokescreen of success that fooled most investors.
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Behind the smokescreen of success, the team was struggling with internal conflicts and missed deadlines.
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The awards and ceremonies acted as a smokescreen of success, masking deeper problems within the corporation.
Synonyms
53
5.9
A way of acting that hides how a person really feels
24
7.4
Actions that hide the truth by making things look better
12
7.1
An action or statement that hides the real reason behind something
11
5.1
An action or statement used to hide the real reason and distract people
9
6.8
A false appearance that hides someone's true feelings or plans
8
6.8
An attempt to hide bad facts to make something seem better
2
4.3
A trick that makes something look like real magic
1
8.3
A short sign of hope that later proves disappointing
Antonyms
How Misleading
2
6.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
smokescreen + of + success
The compound 'smokescreen' already denotes a deliberate cover or distraction, and adding 'of success' straightforwardly specifies that the apparent achievement is being used to obscure the true situation. This follows a regular noun + of + noun compositional pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can predict the intended meaning.
Etymology
The expression smokescreen of success comes from the image of a smokescreen, a cloud of smoke that hides people, with success used as a cover. So, it means 'a false show of success that hides the real problems'.