end in smoke

verb

Roget 732: fail; be unsuccessful etc. adj.; not succeed etc. 731; make vain efforts etc. n.; do in vain, labor in vain, toil in vain; flunk [U.S.]; lose one's labor, take nothing by one's motion; bring to naught, make nothing of; wash a blackamoor white etc. (impossible) 471; roll the stones of Sisyphus etc. (useless) 645; do by halves etc. (not complete) 730; lose ground etc. (recede) 282; fall short of etc. 304.    miss, miss one's aim, miss the mark, miss one's footing, miss stays; slip, trip, stumble; make a slip etc. n.. blunder etc. 495, make a mess of, make a botch of; bitch it^†, miscarry, abort, go up like a rocket and come down like the stick, come down in flames, get shot down, reckon without one's host; get the wrong pig by the tail, get the wrong sow by the ear etc. (blunder), )mismanage) 699.    limp, halt, hobble, titubate^†; fall, tumble; lose one's balance; fall to the ground, fall between two stools; flounder, falter, stick in the mud, run aground, split upon a rock; beat one's head against a stone wall, run one's head against a stone wall, knock one's head against a stone wall, dash one's head against a stone wall; break one's back; break down, sink, drown, founder, have the ground cut from under one; get into trouble, get into a mess, get into a scrape; come to grief etc. (adversity) 735; go to the wall, go to the dogs, go to pot; lick the dust, bite the dust; be defeated etc. 731; have the worst of it, lose the day, come off second best, lose; fall a prey to; succumb etc. (submit) 725; not have a leg to stand on.    come to nothing, end in smoke; flat out^†; fall to the ground, fall through, fall dead, fall stillborn, fall flat; slip through one's fingers; hang fire, miss fire; flash in the pan, collapse; topple down etc. (descent) 305; go to wrack and ruin etc. (destruction) 162.    go amiss, go wrong, go cross, go hard with, go on a wrong tack; go on ill, come off ill, turn out ill, work ill; take a wrong term, take an ugly term; take an ugly turn, take a turn for the worse.    be all over with, be all up with; explode; dash one's hopes etc. (disappoint) 509; defeat the purpose; sow the wind and reap the whirlwind, jump out of the frying pan into the fire, go from the frying pan into the fire.    ... show more

Roget 158: be impotent etc. adj.; not have a leg to stand on.    vouloir rompre l'anguille au genou [Fr.], vouloir prendre la lune avec les dents [Fr.].    collapse, faint, swoon, fall into a swoon, drop; go by the board, go by the wayside; go up in smoke, end in smoke etc. (fail) 732.    render powerless etc. adj.; deprive of power; disable, disenable^†; disarm, incapacitate, disqualify, unfit, invalidate, deaden, cramp, tie the hands; double up, prostrate, paralyze, muzzle, cripple, becripple^†, maim, lame, hamstring, draw the teeth of; throttle, strangle, garrotte, garrote; ratten^†, silence, sprain, clip the wings of, put hors de combat [Fr.], spike the guns; take the wind out of one's sails, scotch the snake, put a spoke in one's wheel; break the neck, break the back; unhinge, unfit; put out of gear.    unman, unnerve, enervate; emasculate, castrate, geld, alter, neuter, sterilize, fix.    shatter, exhaust, weaken etc. 160.    ... show more

Roget 304: 303, come short of, fall short of, stop short of, come short, fall short, stop short; not reach; want; keep within bounds, keep within the mark, keep within the compass.    break down, stick in the mud, collapse, flat out [U.S.], come to nothing; fall through, fall to the ground; cave in, end in smoke, miss the mark, fail; lose ground; miss stays.    ... show more

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