fool's gold
4
4.9
- noun
- /fʊlz ɡoʊld/
- Specialized
:
oro de tonto
- Many people were deceived by the shiny rocks they thought were real gold, but they were simply fool's gold.
- fool's gold (pyrite)
- known as fool's gold
- also known as fool's gold
Examples
-
Investing in that scheme turned out to be fool's gold, as it promised riches but delivered nothing.
-
I do not want any fool's gold, no matter how popular it may be to call it "gold."
Academic text (2008) -
Indeed, it may turn out to be fool's gold.
Academic text (2000) -
We call that the fool's gold of modern prospecting.
-
Still, considering the avalanche of queries agents receive, I'm amazed anybody can pick the real gold from the fool's gold.
Blog text (34) -
It's fool's gold, punctuated by brief periods of feast and prolonged periods of famine.
Blog text (32) -
To the degree that biotechnology offers enhanced illusion through drugs or "virtual" reality (which is one of its greatest dangers), it is fool's gold.
Academic text (2003) -
Democrats cautioned that surpluses projected over such a long period can turn into elusive fool's gold.
Blog text (3) -
To the ancients, books of scripture are like ore-bearing rocks that have been separated out from the fool's gold and deemed to contain the highest percentage of real gold.
Blog text (29) -
To that end, Wadia and his colleagues found that iron pyrite—better known as fool's gold—was several orders of magnitude better than any of the alternatives, based on both cost and abundance.
Blog text (23)
Synonyms
2
7.6
A common pale yellow mineral that looks like gold but is not gold
1
6.0
A hard mineral that looks like gold but is not real gold
A hard metallic mineral that looks brass yellow
How Valuable
Surface Forms
Morphology
fool's + gold
The phrase combines 'fool's' (belonging to or characteristic of a fool) with 'gold' (the valuable metal), so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes gold that fools think is real or, by extension, something that appears valuable but is actually worthless. The possessive/compositional logic is straightforward and predictable without special cultural knowledge, making it immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Fool's gold comes from the shiny mineral pyrite that looks like real gold. People who were 'fooled' by the shine thought they had treasure, so the phrase now means something that seems valuable but is actually 'worthless'.