damp squib

plural damp squibs

1. literallyA firework that has been wet and therefore fails to go off correctly.
2. broadlyidiomaticAnything that does not work properly, or fails to come up to expectations; a dud.

   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

   5 more examples

   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

   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

   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

   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

   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