phrase

• Used to refer to something much sought after but impossible to attain.

  ‘the long-lost loving parent who waits at the end of every unhappy child's rainbow’

  More example sentences

  • ‘We'll never find happiness by looking for it, any more than we'll find the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow by looking for it.’
  • ‘Yet, they continue on with a program they might not enjoy, burnt out and stressed, because they see a light at the end of the rainbow that might not exist, but is still worth attempting to reach.’
  • ‘The slip of paper inside the fortune cookie I got to choose on Thursday night read: ‘You will soon find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.’’
  • ‘Then I grew up and realized that not much has changed, only that now you're promised gold at the end of the rainbow if you work hard enough.’
  • ‘They are still desperately chasing the feature film at the end of the rainbow.’
  • ‘So one of the first things I had to deal with in coming here was the dot-com view of just doing an IPO and quickly seeing a big payday at the end of the rainbow.’
  • ‘You could lose $100 million today because at the end of the rainbow, you were going to make a trillion.’
  • ‘Then along came the high-technology stocks with their promise of gold at the end of the rainbow and pharmaceutical shares were cast aside like a pair of old boots.’
  • ‘Competitive balance is a worthy aim, but it may be a mere illusion, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.’
  • ‘Urban life is not a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for those who migrate.’

  Origin

  With allusion to the story of a crock of gold supposedly to be found by anyone reaching the end of a rainbow.