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flog a dead horse
UK informalDefinition
(Definition of flog a dead horse from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
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You are looking at an entry to do with Failing and doing badly, but you might be interested in these topics from the Doing and achieving topic area:
- Abstaining and refraining
- Acting and acts
- Avoiding action
- Becoming better
- Cancelling and interrupting
- Competing and contending (non-sporting)
- Coping and not coping
- Delaying and wasting time
- Describing the leading position
- Efficient and effective
- Expressions telling people to hurry up
- Failures
- Getting involved for one's own benefit or against others' will
- Hesitating
- Higher and lower points of achievement
- Hurrying and doing things quickly
- Making progress and advancing
- Making things better
- Performing a function
- Potential
- Reacting and responding
- Repeating an action
- Succeeding, achieving and fulfilling
- Success and achievements
- Successful (things or people)
- Surpassing in quality or number
- Taking part and getting involved
- Trying and making an effort
- Unsuccessful (people and things)
- Waiting
- Ways of achieving things
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SMART Thesaurus: Failing and doing badly
Synonyms and related words:
- backfire verb (BAD RESULT)
- be running on empty idiom
- beta male noun
- blow it idiom
- bodge noun, verb
- boomerang verb
- botch verb
- choke verb (FAIL)
- come to sth phrasal verb (REACH)
- flop verb (FAIL)
- fluff verb
- flunk out phrasal verb
- fray around/at the edges idiom
- fumble verb (SPORT)
- get off on the right/wrong foot idiom
- muff verb
- neglect verb
- not last long idiom
- overreach verb
- pale into insignificance idiom
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