Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
💡 Ghostly light 🫧 Unreachable hope
will-o'-the-wisp

will-o'-the-wisp

9.9
A hope that leads people on but cannot be reached
  • noun
  • /ˈwɪl ə ðə wɪsp/
  • Literature
translation icon : luz de gas
  • Many investors were caught in a will-o'-the-wisp of false promises, believing they could quickly double their money.

Examples

  • Chasing after that promotion felt like pursuing a will-o'-the-wisp; every time I thought I was close, it slipped further away.

  • How could one possibly catch such a will-o'-the-wisp?

    Academic text (1993)

  • Unless all member governments follow the same fiscal and monetary rules at home, unless they behave as one, monetary union will remain a will-o'-the-wisp.

    Academic text (1993)

  • For him, the dream of becoming a famous artist was merely a will-o'-the-wisp, always just out of reach.

Synonyms

rainbow
vswill-o'-the-wisp
  • Informal
36 8.1

A hope that is beautiful but unlikely to come true

acts as a lure that leads people toward something unreachable
pipe dream
vswill-o'-the-wisp
  • Informal
23 6.8

A hope or plan that is not likely to happen

tends to be a fanciful improbable idea rather than a leading illusion
mirage
vswill-o'-the-wisp
22 7.7

An idea or hope that seems real but is not possible

leads people on toward something impossible to reach
wild-goose chase
vswill-o'-the-wisp
  • Informal
22 6.6

A hopeless search for something that does not exist

is a misleading thing that lures people not merely a fruitless search
impossible dream
vswill-o'-the-wisp
4 6.8

A hope for something you cannot achieve

focuses on a misleading lure rather than a plain unattainable goal
ignis fatuus
vswill-o'-the-wisp
  • Archaic
9.9

A small, strange light that appears over wet ground and may lead people the wrong way

is the common English image for the same deceptive idea
dim and distant dream
vswill-o'-the-wisp
  • Literature
7.2

A hope that seems unlikely to come true

is a clearly deceptive hope presented as impossible rather than merely unlikely

Antonyms

reality
∞ 1.4

The way things really are, not how we imagine or wish

certainty
  • Literature
202 3.4

A strong feeling that something is true or will happen

How Attainable

pipe dream
  • Informal
23 6.8
will-o'-the-wisp
  • Literature
9.9
mirage
22 7.7
wishful thinking
  • Informal
45 4.1
hope
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

will-o'-the-wisp singular
will-o'-the-wisps plural

Etymology

Will-o'-the-wisp comes from old stories about pale lights in marshes; wisp was a 'bundle of straw' used as a small torch and will (or wile) suggested a 'trick'. So a will-o'-the-wisp now means a false hope that leads you on but you can never reach it.