damp squib
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Something that is expected to be exciting but turns out to be disappointing
một điều gì đó dự kiến thú vị nhưng kết thúc thất vọng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Examples
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “damp squib” mean?
Something that is expected to be exciting but turns out to be disappointing Literally: a firework that fails to ignite
Is “damp squib” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.