Dictionary

damp squib en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (literally) A firework that has been wet and therefore fails to go off correctly.
2. (broadly, idiomatic) Anything that does not work properly, or fails to come up to expectations; a dud.
   • How did Kamala Harris go from being a rising star to a damp squib? [title] 2024 April 16, Arwa Mahdawi, “‘How did Kamala Harris go from being a rising star to a damp squib?”, in The Guardian:
   • Arsène Wenger confessed: "The result was not an accurate indication of the match." Certainly, at half-time it seemed unlikely that Arsenal would catch fire so spectacularly because the first half was a damp squib of a display from Wenger's team, as Newcastle initially showed no ill-effects from their Old Trafford ordeal. 2012 December 29, Paul Doyle, “Arsenal's Theo Walcott hits hat-trick in thrilling victory over Newcastle”, in The Guardian:
   • The anonymous oracle, the author of this pamphlet, is an example of entertaining dullness. He has manufactured a very damp squib; he is a serious man in motley; and practical ideas occasionally drop in among his fantastic vaticinations. 1858 May 29, The Launceston Examiner, Tasmania, page 6, column 2:
   • Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, took the criticism one step further, dubbing the U.K. proposal a “damp squib” that reduces Europeans to “the status of ‘third-country nationals’ in the U.K., with fewer rights than British citizens are offered throughout the EU.” 2017 July 17, Yasmeen Serhan, quoting Guy Verhofstadt, “One Issue That Could Break the Brexit Talks”, in The Atlantic:
   • It sounds very token, another damp squib which will probably end up benefiting more bureaucrats than artists or scientists. 1999 June 30, Fiachra Gibbons, quoting John Calder, “Arts and science ‘damp squib’”, in The Guardian:
   • That whole campaign was a damp squib, they cranked it up as a real possibility that Scotland might win, and when we actually got there it didn't happen like that, and everybody came home quite early with their tails between their legs. 2013, Alistair Moffat, Susan Mansfield, Alexander Smith, The Great Tapestry of Scotland: The Making of a Masterpiece:
   • A third collection of David Foster Wallace's essays contains genius and damp squibs[.] 2012 December 30, Mark O'Connell, “Both Flesh and Not by David Foster Wallace – review”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

Forms

Synonyms

dud · wet firecracker

Translations (14)

fi suutari (firework that fails to go off, due to wetting) · pl niewypał (anything that doesn’t work properly) · fr pétard mouillé (anything that doesn’t work properly) · da fuser (firework that fails to go off, due to wetting) · de Schlag ins Wasser (anything that doesn’t work properly) · ga urchar iomrallach (firework that fails to go off, due to wetting) · fr pétard mouillé (firework that fails to go off, due to wetting) · de Versager (firework that fails to go off, due to wetting) · fi suutari (anything that doesn’t work properly) · nl sisser (firework that fails to go off, due to wetting) · de Rohrkrepierer (anything that doesn’t work properly) · de Blindgänger (firework that fails to go off, due to wetting) · de Reinfall (anything that doesn’t work properly) · de Schuss in den Ofen (anything that doesn’t work properly)