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a damp squib

phrase/ə dæmp skwɪb/

C2CEFR level
70/100Rarity: rare
NeutralRegister

Something that is much less impressive or exciting than expected and ends in disappointment.

After months of hype, the product launch turned out to be a damp squib.

Similar: anticlimax, letdown

Topic: Idioms & phrasal verbs in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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