dead horse
noun
: an exhausted or profitless topic or issue
—usually used in the phrases beat a dead horse and flog a dead horse
Examples of dead horse in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
No Business Like Show Business By 1900, The Billboard covered more than best (and worst) practices for bill posters, who early issues reported would glue ads on ash cans, piles of bricks and even, according to the first issue, a dead horse.
—
Joe Lynch, Billboard, 9 Dec. 2024
Overall Might as well keep beating this poor, dead horse.
—Gary Davenport, The Athletic, 5 Aug. 2024
Just a sanger with a beef snag and a bit of dead horse.
—Claire Reilly, Axios, 5 Nov. 2024
This is beating an incredibly dead horse, but John Mulaney is good at hosting stuff.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 2 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for dead horse 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Joe Lynch, Billboard, 9 Dec. 2024
Overall Might as well keep beating this poor, dead horse.
—Gary Davenport, The Athletic, 5 Aug. 2024
Just a sanger with a beef snag and a bit of dead horse.
—Claire Reilly, Axios, 5 Nov. 2024
This is beating an incredibly dead horse, but John Mulaney is good at hosting stuff.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 2 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for dead horse
Dictionary Entries Near dead horse
Cite this Entry
“Dead horse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dead%20horse. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share