come to nought

English

Alternative forms

• come to naught

Pronunciation

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Verb

come to nought (third-person singular simple present comes to nought, present participle coming to nought, simple past came to nought, past participle come to nought)

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To fail completely; to have no successful result.

   The Bank of England's anti-inflation efforts will come to nought if the U.S. Federal Reserve refuse to join in the plan.

   • 2024 May 15, Greg Morse, “West Coast electric... all the way”, in RAIL, number 1009, page 41:

     As he pointed out, however, there was "still more to come". By 1977-78, "the use of the first Advanced Passenger Trains will reduce journey times between London and Glasgow to four hours". It was a grand statement of optimism that would sadly come to nought.

Synonyms

• come to nothing

Related terms

• bring to nought

Translations

come to nothing — see come to nothing