"go nowhere" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "goes nowhere",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "going nowhere",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "went nowhere",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gone nowhere",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "<goes,,went,gone>"
      },
      "expansion": "go nowhere (third-person singular simple present goes nowhere, present participle going nowhere, simple past went nowhere, past participle gone nowhere)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              16,
              29
            ]
          ],
          "text": "This project is going nowhere.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              17,
              29
            ]
          ],
          "text": "The negotiations went nowhere.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              274,
              287
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 November 12, 'Mystery Shopper', “Is Devon the cream of the crop?”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 47:",
          "text": "The 20 miles [from Okehampton] to Bere Alston, via the growing town of Tavistock, is crying out to be reopened for many reasons, but it is unlikely to happen any time soon. Returning just the six miles from Bere Alston to Tavistock has been mooted, but again it seems to be going nowhere very slowly.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To fail to progress, to fail to attain a favorable result or outcome."
      ],
      "id": "en-go_nowhere-en-verb-ZYuwFZTi",
      "links": [
        [
          "fail",
          "fail"
        ],
        [
          "progress",
          "progress"
        ],
        [
          "favorable",
          "favorable"
        ],
        [
          "result",
          "result"
        ],
        [
          "outcome",
          "outcome"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To fail to progress, to fail to attain a favorable result or outcome."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "tread water"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "go nowhere fast"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-go nowhere.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/00/En-au-go_nowhere.ogg/En-au-go_nowhere.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/En-au-go_nowhere.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "go nowhere"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "goes nowhere",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "going nowhere",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "went nowhere",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gone nowhere",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "<goes,,went,gone>"
      },
      "expansion": "go nowhere (third-person singular simple present goes nowhere, present participle going nowhere, simple past went nowhere, past participle gone nowhere)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "tread water"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              16,
              29
            ]
          ],
          "text": "This project is going nowhere.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              17,
              29
            ]
          ],
          "text": "The negotiations went nowhere.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              274,
              287
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 November 12, 'Mystery Shopper', “Is Devon the cream of the crop?”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 47:",
          "text": "The 20 miles [from Okehampton] to Bere Alston, via the growing town of Tavistock, is crying out to be reopened for many reasons, but it is unlikely to happen any time soon. Returning just the six miles from Bere Alston to Tavistock has been mooted, but again it seems to be going nowhere very slowly.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To fail to progress, to fail to attain a favorable result or outcome."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fail",
          "fail"
        ],
        [
          "progress",
          "progress"
        ],
        [
          "favorable",
          "favorable"
        ],
        [
          "result",
          "result"
        ],
        [
          "outcome",
          "outcome"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To fail to progress, to fail to attain a favorable result or outcome."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-go nowhere.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/00/En-au-go_nowhere.ogg/En-au-go_nowhere.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/En-au-go_nowhere.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "go nowhere fast"
    }
  ],
  "word": "go nowhere"
}