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Examples

  • His account is powerful and, often, very moving, marred only by traces of a belief in the impossible dream of a kinder, gentler Soviet Union, the will-o'-the-wisp that beguiled and destroyed Mikhail Gorbachev.

    A World Behind Barbed Wire Andrew Stuttaford 2011

  • First the hot Jupiters; then the will-o'-the-wisp Glieslings and their cousins; and the results from the Kepler mission, one of which is Kepler-22b.

    Athena Andreadis, Ph.D.: Slouching to the Right of the Drake Equation Ph.D. Athena Andreadis 2011

  • Written on it are the names of those who despaired, young men and young women for whom opportunity had become a will-o'-the-wisp.

    David O. Russell: FDR Said It All in 1936 -- Who Will Follow in His Steps Today? David O. Russell 2011

  • Not on the basis of a will-o'-the-wisp, ever-vanishing possibility of an end someday to American intervention, but a commitment that it is only Afghans who will rule Afghanistan, either with knives at each others' throats or with hands clasping each others' hands.

    Rabbi Arthur Waskow: Petition The President: End Afghan War Now! Rabbi Arthur Waskow 2011

  • Not on the basis of a will-o'-the-wisp, ever-vanishing possibility of an end someday to American intervention, but a commitment that it is only Afghans who will rule Afghanistan, either with knives at each others' throats or with hands clasping each others' hands.

    Rabbi Arthur Waskow: Petition The President: End Afghan War Now! Rabbi Arthur Waskow 2011

  • Men would muddle about in the Black Forest, keeping company to all the terrapins until they would see the will-o‚-the wisp in the dark sky, or the ghost of Will holding the wisp in the middle of the marshland.

    Archive 2006-04-02 Miss Snark 2006

  • She would say, ‘Tonight I was followed by the will-o'-the-wisps of the cemetery.’

    The Templar Revelation Lynn Picknett 2004

  • She would say, ‘Tonight I was followed by the will-o'-the-wisps of the cemetery.’

    The Templar Revelation Lynn Picknett 2004

  • Upon a will-o--the-wisp, one's mind can set a snowflake derby, even a crown of thorns; but a top hat or beret is quite another matter.

    Villa Incognito Robbins, Tom 2003

  • One of the will-o--the-wisp servants guided Eric through the labyrinth of interconnecting castle rooms all filled with revelers, finally arriving at the castle's equivalent of the RenFaire's Main Stage.

    Spirits White As Lightning Lackey, Mercedes 2001

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