Square the circle
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
To try an impossible task, seeking what can't be.
Origin
From ancient Greece, tied to math; squaring a circle baffled Euclid (300 BCE), slang by 1600s for vain. A 1631 Donne poem uses it for a lost cause.
Usage Examples
- Fixing that's like squaring the circle; no chance.
- He's trying to square the circle with that plan.
- Square the circle? Good luck with that!
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